


What Goes Bump in The Night

by Turnouthelights



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, At one point, Bromance, Demonstuck, M/M, john and dave are just really great bros ok, karkat is a demon, rated T for cursing and some maybe adult themes?, references a youtube video, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4441682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turnouthelights/pseuds/Turnouthelights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is having nightmares for months on end, paranoid that the monster that terrorizes his sleeping self is stalking his waking self. What he eventually runs into is a little shocking, to say the least.</p><p>ABANDONED</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You sit alone in your room, curled up on your bed with a big comforter wrapped around you, reading a book you picked up recently. You think you hear your dad call for you for dinner. Good, you think, because your stomach is growling. Something warm and delicious like your dad's homemade chicken noodle soup sounds great right about now.  
  
You unwrap yourself from your blanket cocoon and stand off your bed, stretching and sighing in slight relief. As great as sitting down and reading a good book is, it sure locks up your muscles from sitting in one place for so long. That relief your muscles get is pretty relaxing to you, so you smile.  
  
You suddenly notice something in your peripheral vision. Something black, something large. You turn your head toward your window quickly, only to find that nothing is there. All you can see through your closed window is the night, a stray streetlamp lighting a spot on the street in its fainted yellow glow.  
  
Maybe you just imagined it? Or misinterpreted the blackness of the night as something else? Yeah, that's probably it. It was pretty blobby, you couldn't make out a real shape from the black.  
  
You shake your head; you've been reading about fantasy stuff for a few hours now, your mind is making things up, what with the last words you read still fresh in your mind. As cool as it would be to see a real life monster, that would never happen. Its all fiction, fakey fake stuff made up for entertainment. Its still fun to think about, though.  
  
Your stomach erupts in another growl, drawing your attention away from your thoughts. That's right, food. Food is a thing that you were about to get, but you got sidetracked. Enough with thinking about fantasy stuff you definitely did not see and that does not exist, its time to go downstairs and join your dad for dinner.  
  
You step to your bedroom door and open it, immediately getting hit with the delicious smell of what could be soup with chicken in it, and possibly something sweet smelling? God, you hope your dad didn't bake another cake. You'll have to think of an excuse to get out of there before he starts serving it up before dinner is over. You exit the room and close your door behind you.  
  
====>  
  
Dinner passes by pretty uneventfully. Your dad asks you how school went, you ask him how work went, some small talk and a few jokes follow, then you fall into a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying the great meal your dad prepared for the two of you. unfortunately for you, when you try to slip out of your chair when your dad turns his back to you to start cutting the cake, you end up with a face full of cake.  
  
You hadn't thought that he would throw the piece in your face when it seemed that one was made for eating, but you think maybe you shouldn't expect anything less. This is your father you're talking about here, the man that taught you all your tricks. This is also the man who's pretty adamant to get you to eat his desserts. You think if he were anyone else, he would just be shoving the cake into your mouth against your protests.  
  
You shudder; the last thing you need is another person shoving desserts into your mouth. Dave is already guilty of doing that to you with cookies. At school, even! That was a pretty embarrassing day, and you still can't quite live it down. Too many of your classmates had seen the blonde pushing you against a table and shove a large, gross cafeteria cookie into your mouth to live it down.  
  
You head upstairs and to your room. You're just going to take a shower, because the frosting is in your hair and you don't really want to sleep with that caked in your hair, smelling of vanilla frosting. It'll probably be harder to wash it out in the morning too. Bluh bluh, stupid parents and their stupid prankster gambits.  
  
You grab some fresh Ghostbuster PJs and head to the bathroom, where you take a slightly longer than necessary shower to wash out all the frosting and cake bits from wherever they ended up on your body.  
  
You return to your bedroom after your shower, throwing your dirty clothes into a basket infront of your bed. You realize its actually kind of really cold in your room, wow what happened? Before dinner and even when you got your clothes it was warm and cozy, but now its almost like you're standing out there in the October cold. You had left your glasses on your dresser, still covered in cake.  
  
You take your dirty towel out of your hamper and retrieve your glasses, wiping them on the towel gently. After you think you've cleaned them enough you set the wire frames on your nose and walk back over to the hamper, dropping the towel in. You can clearly see what the problem is now and how did this happen?  
  
Your window, which you are quite sure was closed before, is wide open. Letting all the heat out and too much cold in.  
  
Did you open this? But you don't remember opening it. Did your dad? But why would he, when its so cold out. He wouldn't do this as some failed attempt for a prank, would he? You know your dad better than that.  
  
Suddenly you hear a low noise from somewhere in the room. Um. That definitely wasn't a growl, like you think it was. Nope, that was your computer whirring probably, maybe someone is pestering you and springing your desktop back to life-  
  
It happens a second time, a lot louder. Its kind of hard to deny that definitely was a growl like from some feral animal. Okay you know what? Maybe your dad is pranking you again, setting up some kind of machine to let out growls and make you think something got into your room. Haha Dad, good job on that one, got you there for a moment. Yup, that is what this is, and you're going to find that whatever it is and show it to your dad, have a laugh then go to bed.  
  
You quickly turn around as another growl comes out from behind you, and it does not sound closer or anything, nope nope nope, this is all a prank, you're sure-  
  
That... black mass sitting in your corner...Its just a prop, okay? No different than the harlequin doll your dad bought for your birthday once. nope, those red piercing eyes and long claws and bright white fangs are fake, fakey fake shit to scare you. Wow its suddenly pretty dark in your room, and all you can see is the blood red of those cat-like eyes staring a hole straight into you. The growl coming from it is loud and kind of scary but hey its just dark and its fake and good job dad, good job on scaring the shit out of your son-  
  
You don't have time to think anymore, as the next moment the black mass sitting in your corner lunges for you, going way faster than you'd think should be possible. It reaches straight for your throat and you're thrown backwards onto your back--Until suddenly you're not, and you're sitting bolt up in your bed, panting and shaking.  
  
Goddamnit, you think. That dream, nightmare,  _whatever- again._  God, why do you keep having the same dream over and over? You hold your head in your hands and rub at your eyes. This is getting pretty bad. That dream was very, very vivid. You don't remember when you fell asleep, you don't know what time it is-you peek at your clock then and see that its 3:12am,  _again_ -you don't understand why you keep having these dreams.  
  
Its been months now, and you have had this same dream over and over and over again, rarely getting any break from it. It plagues your subconscious, haunts you in your waking moments. You can't get away from it. Just the sight of those blood red eyes staring at you, those long claws attached to hands that, that just-  _hang_  there, not moving, not twitching. The thought of those huge fangs digging into your flesh; its almost too much to bear anymore.  
  
Sometimes the dreams vary. Sometimes you dream you're in your bed at night, and the- the  _thing_  sits at the foot of your bed, staring you down, daring you to make a move. To do something. But you don't, because you're terrified it'll attack you if you move. Sometimes you dream you're out in public and see those eyes staring at you from dark corners you pass. Hell, sometimes when you're walking in school or through stores and you look down hallways or aisles, you swear you see those eyes glaring at you from too far away for you to be able to see them.  
  
Sometimes the growling coming from the dark places in your room almost... almost sounds like its trying to talk, trying to say something to you. You're pretty certain anything it would say would just result in " _you're going to die_ ", though. You can't imagine something like that-something so much like a demon-would be trying to actually talk to you. You're absolutely terrified of it. You're almost convinced that its real and that its haunting you because its actually going to kill you one day.  
  
You really need help. You know you do, this isn't normal, its not natural- Its not like you haven't tried telling people about the dream. You tried to tell Rose, and she tried to give you a therapy session but you couldn't figure out anything about why you keep having these dreams, and they didn't stop either. You've told your cousin Jade, but she just waved you off and said that it wasn't anything big. She has weird dreams all the time, apparently. So its nothing to worry about.  
  
But it is. It is and its taking over your life. You don't hang out with your friends like you used to. You try to, to get your mind off this dream. But its not the same. You've not had bro bonding time with Dave in forever. You feel terrible about that, about not giving enough time to your friends but you can't, not while you feel like you're being watched and always looking over your shoulder, looking for the demon you're sure will come for you one day.  
  
You sigh loudly and throw your covers off of you. You swing your legs over the side of your bed, getting hit with a sudden rush of cool air. You shiver, but push yourself up anyway. You're not going to get any sleep, not for a bit anyway. You have to do something else to distract yourself from the dream long enough for your tiredness to take over and force you back to sleep.  
  
You walk over to your dresser and grab the hammer and flashlight resting there. You've taken to carrying a weapon and a source of light with you when you leave your room at night, more to give you comfort than anything. You switch on the flashlight and point it at the floor, then you leave your room as quietly as you can.  
  
You first stop at the bathroom, being very careful not to shine the light near your dad's door or make too much noise. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you have to keep your dad up, too. After that, you shuffle down the stairs and to the kitchen. You take a glance at the digital clock built into the oven and see that its 3:20am. You let out a puff of air quietly and set your items on the kitchen counter.  
  
You open a cabinet door to grab out a cup, when you suddenly don't feel like you're alone anymore. Its almost like someone is standing right next to you, warm breath hitting your exposed skin in slow puffs.  Your eyes widen slightly and you quickly shut the door, only to find that no one is there.  
  
You hit the side of your head with the palm of your hand, literally trying to knock the thoughts circling in your brain out the other side. Calm down, John. There is no red-eyed demon in here with you, there is no monster trying to kill you, this is real life not a dream you NEED TO  _CALM DOWN-_  
  
You sit down in a chair next to the kitchen table and take deep, long breaths. You can't have a panic attack out here in the kitchen, you can't freak out and pass out on the floor. You'd have all kinds of fun trying to explain that to your dad in the morning.  
  
After a minute, you deside that you're good, you're fine now. Everything is perfectly okay and you're just going to get a glass of water like you planned, drink it, and go back to your room where you'll probably go on your computer and see if anyone else is awake. That is the plan and you are sticking to it because god damn it, there are no demons in your house.  
  
You stand up and open the cabinet again. You take out a glass and close the cabinet, then you run the tap to fill your cup. You turn around to lean against the sink when you notice the cabinet door to the glasses is open.  
  
Okay, you're kind of sure you just closed it, but its fine you probably didn't close it all the way and it just kind of swung open on its own. Gravity does that to wooden cabinet doors, you've seen it.  
  
You've also seen in all kinds of movies where the cabinet doors just open on their own and it was because of a ghost because,  _obviously_  in every ghost movie they like to play with kitchen equipment. No, fuck you brain and fuck yourself for liking ghost movies, goddamnit.  
  
Why did you even like those cheesy movies in the first place? You suddenly start to regret ever having marathons of  _Paranormal Activity_  because you're just freaking yourself out for no reason.  
  
You reach out and close the cabinet door, then lean back against the sink. Okay, its just a dream. Its freaked you out for a while, but come on monsters and demons? That's stuff you'd only ever see in movies or read in books. It's not real and you aren't dealing with such a thing right now. You're dealing with your overactive mind making you think you're feeling and seeing things when they aren't really there.  
  
You drink some of the water then pour the rest of it into the sink and set the glass in. You grab your items off of the counter, keeping the flashlight Off, because you don't need it. You aren't some baby afraid of the dark, you're a sixteen year old guy who is going back to his room to waste some time on the computer before going back to sleep.  
  
You carefully and quietly walk back up the stairs and to your room. You open the door and walk in, set the hammer and flashlight on your dresser, and close the door. You are sure you did not see a flash of two red orbs in the corner. You will not let your paranoid mind get the better of you tonight, because you're sick and tired of living in fear of nothing.  
  
You huff in defiance, and scoot over to your desk chair. You plop down and shake the mouse, bringing the computer out of slumber. You open Pesterchum, silently hoping one of your friends is online so you can distract yourself. Two names on the chumroll are grayed out, but one of them is on.  
  
\-- ectoBiologist (EB) began pestering turntechGodhead (TG) at 3:27am \--

EB: hey dave!  
EB: what are you doing up so late?  
TG: oh hey egbuns  
TG: nothing wrong with asking but i always stay up this late bro you know this  
TG: the real question is  
TG: what are you doing up this late  
TG: its very unjohnlike for you to be up at 3am  
EB: oh. well i dunno i couldn't sleep?  
EB: i kind of woke up and haven't tried to sleep again yet  
TG: well whats eating at your ass then bro  
TG: if anything  
TG: you know you can tell me and i will 100 percent not judge you for it  
EB: gross.  
EB: nothings wrong dave! i just couldn't sleep so now i'm talking to you.  
TG: you sure bro  
TG: im not lalonde but i can listen to your egbertian troubles yo  
TG: be that one friend that always has that shoulder dusted off and ready for any sad sack of shit needing a good cry  
TG: we can feelings jam it out and youll feel like the happiest damn fucker by sunrise  
TG: we can act out one of your shitty movies where we cry together as the sun rises and blinds us  
TG: but obviously it wouldnt blind me with my kickass shades blocking it  
EB: oh my god! if i tell you will you shut up already?  
TG: i dunno probly  
TG: better to do it then sit and ask questions  
EB: sigh.  
EB: okay, the problem is i had a nightmare.  
EB: don't make fun of me for it! its this one that keeps re occuring and its actually really, really scary  
TG: how scary we talking here  
TG: like shitty jumpscare scary or about to be eaten by a dinosaur scary or  
EB: i dunno, the second one?  
EB: its been happening for months and i keep thinking i'm seeing red eyes looking at me from the darkness in my room.  
EB: its like this black thing i can't ever make a shape of, but i can see the eyes and its claws and fangs so easily.  
EB: its really freaky and i'm losing sleep and freaking out way more than i should over it.  
TG: damn  
TG: you really need to lay off the sugar and shit man  
TG: i know your dad is basically only feeding you sugar over there  
TG: that guy bakes way too much to be healthy and where does all that cake even go  
TG: its like 10 cakes a day and then its gone there is no way you or he is eating all of that without getting like super fat jesus  
EB: daaaave. this is not about how much my dad bakes and where the cakes go. to be honest i don't even know so don't ask me.  
EB: thanks for not really listening to me just like every one else, jerk.  
TG: no wait i was totally listening  
TG: listen forget the cake maybe you just arent getting out of the house enough  
TG: how about tomorrow you come over to my place and we play some games and order pizza  
TG: have a bro bonding time like we havent in pretty much forever  
TG: guarantee you after you get your ass handed to you in mario kart a dozen times youll never have those dreams again  
TG: cause youll be dreaming about how badly you suck at video games  
EB: i don't suck at video games! i've more than once beaten you in smash so suck it  
EB: i guess i'll ask my dad later if i can come over.  
TG: sweet  
TG: right after school k  
EB: okay.  
EB: i'm going to try to sleep so goodnight.  
TG: sleep tight cupcake  
EB: ugh.

\-- ectoBiologist (EB) ceased pestering turntechGodhead (TG) at 3:55am \--  
  
You rub under your glasses for a moment before signing off of pesterchum. Well, tomorrow you'll have something to keep your mind off what's been plaguing you for way too long. Maybe Dave is right, maybe you just haven't been doing enough fun things lately, so all you are left with is the dreams.  
  
You put your computer into sleep mode and drag yourself out of your chair before flopping into your bed. You curl up in your comforter and let sleep take over your tired and overworked mind. You're just going to ignore everything around you for the next couple of hours before you have to get up for school. It seems to work as you don't feel like you're being watched when you fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is only the first chapter, I'll be posting more chapters as I get them done!
> 
> I'm sorry about the pesterlog not having color, I can't figure out how to code it or what I need to do to change the colors. If anyone can explain it to me in a simple to understand way, that would be extremely helpful. ^-^'
> 
> EDIT: Thanks to cosmicConundrum http://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicConundrum/pseuds/cosmicConundrum and a google search, I now understand how to format pesterlogs. :D Thanks for the help!


	2. Chapter 2

You wake two hours later, the sun not yet peeking out. It is still effectively dark in your room, and even more dark under your blankets. Man, it is cold though.  
  
You groggily turn onto your side facing away from the wall, trying to stay huddled in your blankets for warmth. You aren't quite sure what time it is, but you do know you'll have to get up soon. You idly think about what you'll have to do soon. Brush your teeth, yank a comb through your hair, put on clean clothes that are not your plain blue PJs, preferably something with long sleeves and warm.  
  
Bluh, you are too tired. You don't want to go to school today, staying inside under your covers sounds like a much more appealing idea. However, you know your dad won't let you miss a day of school because you're lazy. You only get to stay home on days off or when you're sick, and currently, neither of those things are happening.  
  
Right then, your alarm clock goes off, playing the theme for  _GhostBusters_. As amazing as that is to wake up to every morning, you find it pretty annoying right now. You wish you didn't have to get up, but you know you have to.  
  
You lazily move an arm out from under your blankets and slap around your bedside table, accidently knocking your glasses off onto the floor. Well, shit. You sure hope you didn't mess them up somehow, the prescription for them is still good for another 2 months. You'd rather not go around blind if you don't have to while you wait for a new pair to arrive in.  
  
You finally stumble upon your alarm clock and slap it off. You poke the plastic face of your green slime monster clock, for good measure.  
  
You sigh and lay there for another full minute, then you make a move to get up. You reach down on the floor with your hand, searching for your glasses. If they aren't broken, they would be if you stepped on them. Not to mention getting glass in your foot, augh. Maybe your dad would let you stay home then?  
  
No, you shouldn't purposefully break your glasses. Or injure yourself. That would just suck. So you search around some more, but can't seem to find them within reach. You huff, and roll over more while you reach under your bed and further along the floor in search of your glasses. Just how far could they possibly go, anyway?  
  
You continue rolling closer and closer to the edge of the bed, and in your concentration being fully on trying to find your glasses, you don't realize you've rolled so far you fall off the bed. You land onto the floor with an  _Oof!_  and a thud, right onto your side. Well, great. This day is starting off wonderfully.  
  
You sit up and rub your left arm. At least the floor was a  _little_  softer, being carpeted. You squint and look all around you, but you can't see your glasses still. You return to the floor and reach as far as you can under your bed, but you can't find them there. All you find is the bunny plush that went missing a couple of weeks ago and an old sock you've been missing. Its great when you find stuff you weren't looking for, huh?  
  
You leave the items under your bed, desidedly going to leave them for another time to find. You give up your search and clamber onto your bed. You are almost completely blind like this and can't find your glasses. They're probably in some really obvious spot you ignored. That'd be your luck, you guess! Today will be one of those days.  
  
"Daaaaad! I'm bliiiiind! I can't find my glasses!" You call out loudly. You are sure your dad is already awake and probably down stairs cooking breakfast. A couple of minutes later your dad knocks on your door. "Son? Are you alright?" He says through the door. He opens it a moment later to find you sitting on your bed, looking in his general direction.  
  
"I accidently knocked my glasses off the table and I can't find them now." You explain. You think you see him nod and move along the floor. He bends over by your desk and picks up your missing pair of glasses. He walks over to you and you hold your hand out, where he sets them. You unfold them and place them on your nose, then look up at your father.  
  
"How'd my glasses get over by my desk?" You question, to which your dad shrugs slightly before placing his hand on your head.  
  
"Perhaps you slapped them harder than you thought. That's alright son, you are getting quite strong these days. I am so proud of you." He replies before ruffling your already messy locks of dark hair. You roll your eyes, "Thanks, dad."  
  
"Oh, dad," You start, "Can I go over to Dave's after school?"  
  
Your dad pulls his hand from your hair to rub at his chin. You think he's taking extra long to answer for literally no reason. You both know its almost always okay to go to a friends house, but you like asking for permission first anyway.  
  
"I'm assuming you will be eating dinner at the Strider's?" He asks you. You nod; Dave mentioned ordering pizza. "Alright son. But please do your homework while there. We both know it would not be good for you to fall behind." You nod again. Yeah, falling behind and having even more work to do all crammed on you at once would really suck.  
  
Your dad pats your shoulder while giving you a fatherly grin, then leaves your room. You stand up and move to your dresser, open your drawers and pull out clothes at random.  
  
Dark jeans with an Iron man shirt and a pull over blue hoodie. It'll do, you suppose. You grab a pair of briefs and plain white socks and head out of your door to the bathroom. You change your clothes, brush your teeth, and wrestle with your hair. Its in quite a bit of disarray today, and you are thinking it might just stay that way, as it doesn't seem to want to flatten out any.  
  
You give it another minute, but your hair is fighting you tooth and nail to stay crazy. Bluh, whatever, you don't even care how you look. You put your comb back on the bathroom counter, then you stare at yourself in the mirror for a moment. Your deep blue eyes are surrounded by darker shades from losing so much sleep, your dark skin making the bags stand out more.  
  
You make a face in the mirror, scrunching your nose up and drawing your eyebrows together before you leave the room. You make a detour to your bedroom to throw on that hoodie and put your dirty clothes in your hamper, then you head downstairs where you can smell toast and eggs from the kitchen.  
  
You head into the kitchen and spot your dad scrambling eggs by the stove. "Your breakfast is already done son, dig in." He calls over his shoulder. You thank your dad and sit down in your seat and pull the plate closer to you, and start scooping eggs into your mouth with a fork. Your dad joins you shortly after while you chug water down.  
  
You grab your backpack off of the couch as you head to the door, slip on your way too old white and black running shoes, and head to your dad's car. He asks what you plan to do at Dave's today. You tell him play video games, hang with his bro, and of course, do your homework. He nods in approval and waves at you as you exit his car and walk into the school.  
  
====>  
  
You're sitting in History class when a little ball of paper hits the back of your head. You are going to try to ignore it because you're trying to focus on the teacher and what he's saying. Whoever threw that at you should be doing the same! A moment later, another ball of paper flies over your shoulder, the shoulder of the kid in front of you, and into the floor. You hear a thump from behind you and you smile slightly. Whoever is trying to get your attention is doing a pretty bad job at it.   
  
A third ball of paper tumbles over your shoulder and into your lap. Congrats person, you have successfully distracted John Maria Egbert. You grab the ball of paper and carefully unfold it in your lap.  
  
hey john!! dave said in english that you're going over to his house after school? can i come?   
  
You roll your eyes. Only Jade would have a neon green ink pen. And she has english with Dave, which is also a dead give away. You slowly put the note onto your desk and pretend like its for class. You scribble on the paper, ball it up and toss it wildly behind you. You are slick, you are undetectable. No one knows you're passing notes with your cousin.  
  
A couple of minutes pass and you almost think that your cousin accepts your answer, but then the ball of paper goes flying over your shoulder and you barely manage to catch it before it hits the kid sitting in front of you. You freeze for a moment and look around; your teacher hasn't noticed and none of the other students are paying you any attention. Whew.  
  
no Jade! its bro bonding time, no annoying cousins allowed!  
  
but joooohn! i haven't been to dave's house in a long time either!!! he stopped letting me come over since that one time his bro walked into his room in a speedo >:I   
  
You shudder involuntarily at the memory. You, Jade and Rose had all gone to Dave's apartment early last summer, for no better reason than to just hang out. It was incredibly hot that day, somewhat uncharacteristic for Washington. Dave's bro had been working in the basement of the apartment building, a workplace he's been renting from the building, working on some kind of robot.  
  
You think maybe the AC was broken down there? You aren't quite sure, but his bro came into Dave's room where you were all residing, in nothing but a speedo and his shades. He wasn't even wearing a hat, his crazy blonde hair flopped down with the weight of sweat. For two days all you could see behind your closed eyelids was the image of Dave's almost fully naked brother standing in the doorway to his bedroom.  
  
Neither of the girls have stepped foot back into the apartment since. You were just glad it was a speedo and not a thong.  
  
You return to the paper and scribble a we agreed not to mention that. and no, you still can't come! now shush before the teacher catches us. before balling it up and casually throwing it behind you. For the rest of the class you receive no more note balls, and then class is over. You gather up your books and paper and pens, then head for Lunch. Luckily this year, you got lunch with all three of your friends. You swear the gods blessed you four with the same lunch period.  
  
As you walk into the cafeteria, you suddenly remember that your dad didn't make you lunch today, and you didn't bother to ask beforehand. You smack your forehead, this means eating gross cafeteria food now! Unless you can con Dave out of some of his lunch. He always packs way too much and snacks on it in class. Somehow he hasn't been caught yet. You deside he must either be magic or a ninja or he's got some deal going with the teachers. Its most likely the last one.  
  
"Helloooo? Joooohn?" Your cousin waves her hand in front of your face, and you snap out of your thoughts. How long had you been standing in the doorway?  
  
"Welcome back to earth, John. Nice of you to join us." Rose sounds from your side. "Oh, hi guys! Heh, sorry." You say, giggling a little. You really can't help giggling in situations like this. Or, situations where you are embarrassed.  
  
Rose bumps your hip with hers with a small smirk before walking towards an empty table towards the back of the cafeteria. You notice she's carrying a tray in her hands. You also notice that Jade is carrying a plastic grocery bag. At least Jade remembered to bring lunch. You are almost certain Dave will too. In all the years you've known him, you've never not seen him bringing some kind of snack with him.  
  
Jade flicks your forehead then turns on her heel and marches toward the table Rose is sitting at. You follow along behind, rubbing your forehead and grumbling.   
  
"John." Rose says when you sit down.  
  
"Rose." You reply, laying your arms on the table and leaning on them, looking at her.  
  
"Where is your lunch?" she asks before picking up a plastic fork daintily. You groan, "I forgot my lunch."  
  
"You have to eat, John. Why don't you get cafeteria food?" she pokes at hers while looking up at you, as if to emphasize _This is food, its edible._  You groan again, dragging it out. "Nooooo, that stuff is gross. I'm just going to see if Dave will share his with me." Jade snorts from her spot next to Rose and pulls the rest of her lunch from her bag. She's grabbed out a couple of books and writing paper and set them on the table.  
  
You frown and scrunch your eyebrows together, before there's a sudden weight on your head and you jump. Jade laughs as a plain paper bag drops onto the table and Dave hangs onto your head more, pushing almost all the way to the front of your head and making your hair fall into your face. He places his hands on the table in front of you as his weight slowly (but not really) crushes you into your seat.  
  
You whine and push back into his chest, and he rolls off of you before plopping into the seat next to you. You run a hand through your hair and fix your friend with a glare, "Dave what the hell, personal space." Dave shrugs, "You forget I live with my bro John, I don't know what personal space is." You make a face as he pulls his lunch bag closer to himself and opens it.  
  
You huff and lay your head on the plastic gray table. Rose jabs your shoulder with a finger making you jump again, then turn your head towards her. "John, food. You need to eat." She points towards the front of the cafeteria, and you notice Jade pointing at Dave. You roll your eyes and lift your head off of the table, "Hey Dave, can I-" You start, before you're getting a bag of chips shoved into your face.  
  
Dave continues to munch on his own while he holds the bag out to you. You grin sheepishly and take the bag from his hands, saying a thanks. "You need something to drink too egderp, I have apple juice. And one can of orange soda because bro just fucking  _stuffed_  it into my bag right before I stepped out of the apartment."  
  
You give a lopsided grin, "I guess the can of orange soda?"  
  
As Dave is pulling the can out of his bag, Jade goes "Soooo, bro bonding time huh?" and chews on the end of her pencil. "Jaaaade, I already told you, just bros." You say before popping another chip into your mouth. "Harley we chill together all the time but me and John haven't had a bro bonding time in like, five-hundred years. We're doing that today, end of discussion." Dave says coolly. Jade whines and slumps in her seat, "I just wanted to play games with you guys!"  
  
Rose pats Jade's shoulder, "You and I can have our own bonding time, boys excluded. Okay?" Jade smiles at Rose before nodding and returning to her lunch and homework.  
  
====>  
  
"A'ight so like Bro should be working on a new project in the basement so we can just hang out and do whatever." Dave says as he unlocks the door to his apartment. "Alright, cool!" You reply as the door lock clicks and Dave steps inside. You follow behind and close the door behind you. You walk to the end of the hallway into the open space that is the living room. You drop your backpack by the door and look around.  
  
"Your bro has.... added a lot of smuppets, hasn't he?" You observe, looking at the various multi colored smuppets laying all across the floor and on top of counters and tables and just about anywhere really.  
  
"Dude don't even get me started, I can't even step a foot into this fucking room without stepping on one of those fuckers. Some of them have squeakers in them for whatever reason. Just imagine how fucking impossible it is for me to take a piss at night when I could wake his giant ass up from these stupid things."  
  
You giggle sort of nervously, "Does he go all ninja on you?"  
  
"Almost kicked my damn head off last time so yeah, basically. At least he took out the stupid cameras and shit. He started stuffing his smuppets in where they were, said he was running out of room." Dave tosses his backpack against the back of the couch and jumps over the back of it, landing on the cushions.  
  
"Why don't you guys move into, you know, an actual house?" You ask as you go and join Dave on the couch. "Are you kidding me? Bro would turn into one of those suburban dads that washes his car and goes out in the morning to get the fucking paper then sit around on his big ass griping about the stock market. That or get us evicted within the first week. Lucky us, no one here gives a crap what you do as long as they don't have to get involved."  
  
You deadpan, "Wow, that's.... Okay." Topic change time, John. "So what are we doing first? I should warn you, at some point my dad wants me to do my homework here." Dave shrugs and grabs the remote from the arm of the couch, flicking it to a blank channel screen. He stands up and moves to the consoles on the TV stand, "We got the Xbox one, came with that Dying Light game. The one about the zombies and parkour. Wanna play it?"  
  
"Oh shit yeah!" You kind of forgot about that game but you remember that you really wanted to play that! Even though you're more of a PC Gamer you can't pass up the chance to play this game. Dave smirks and turns on the console, "Damn calm your tits Egbert, its just another zombie game. No different than the fourteen others we've played. I will admit that kicking the head right off their shoulders is pretty sweet, though."  
  
Dave sets the game up for you then hands you the controller. You're practically jumping in your seat by the time the controller is in your hands. "You need the tutorial on this shit, Egbert? Want me to hold your hand through your experience of zombie ass kicking?" Dave offers his hand to you then, "Wide open bro."  
  
You roll your eyes and punch his hand, "No I most certainly do not! Now which button is the jump?" You say, fiddling with the controller.  
  
"Unbelievable. I am so stunned at your lack of knowledge of the basic fucking 'jump' I might just keel over." You punch his shoulder this time, "Stop being a douche and just tell me, sheesh." You over exaggerate an eyeroll for good measure. Dave rubs his shoulder with his opposite hand, "Wow touchy, did you fall your ass out of bed this morning?"  
  
"Yes. Yes I did."  
  
==>  
  
You don't spend long playing that game, you died more times than you can count on both your hands just from trying to jump a distance that was just too far and ended up falling to your death. You did manage to kick a few zombie butts, though. So mission accomplished in your book!  
  
You and Dave switch to the good old Mario Kart: Double Dash after that.  
  
"Dave! Oh my god dude, will you stop with the fucking banana peels already?!" You shove your shoulder into Dave's, which earns you a snicker. "I'll stop with the banana peels when you stop being so gullible and landing on them."  
  
"Well then take my damn blue shell you turkey butt!" You launch the blue shell. It slams past all the computer players and straight to Yoshi and Donkey Kong, who's been holding the first place spot since the beginning. You pass by all the players with your Toad and Baby Mario characters and win first place.  
  
You jump up off the couch, "Ha!! How about those apples, Dave! Fuck your Yoshi!" Dave stares at you with a stoic expression, a slight upturn of his lips. "Bro that was cold, I thought we agreed we wouldn't use Blue shells. I feel so betrayed right now."  
  
"Well I feel betrayed by all your freaking banana peels, man! How can you even get so many?" You flop back down and look at dave. "Bro, its D.K. What do you expect, honestly?" "Okay but still! that was a lot of banana peels!" You exclaim. Dave hold his hands up in surrender, "A'ight before this game ruins us and sends us into complete fucking chaos over banana peels how about we stop and order pizza. I don't know about you but I'm hungry."  
  
You nod, "Yeah, okay. Are we splitting the bill? I think I have a ten on me right now.." You begin searching your jean pockets before remembering its in your wallet in your backpack. "Damn, Egbert isn't a total freeloader, after all. Tell the press, Jade Harley was wrong about something for once."  
  
You stare at Dave almost incredulously, "Does Jade say I'm a free loader? That isn't true at all!" Dave shrugs before standing up off of the couch, "I dunno man, she says you get her to give you free pizza at the joint she works at all the time. Seems pretty free loaderly to me."  
  
You snort, "Free loaderly?" "Shut up, man, I'm calling the pizza place. Don't need your nerdy squeak voice all up in this call." When did Dave pull out his cell? Oh well. He begins tapping on the screen then holds the phone up to his ear. You stand up from the couch and stick your tongue out at Dave before walking around it to your backpack.  
  
You take a seat on one of their bar stools that stands in front of a counter extending from the wall. You pull out several books, writing paper, and pens. Might as well get some work done, you know? You also pull out your wallet that you received from your dad for your fourteenth birthday and open it. You pull the single ten out and place it on the counter away from you, then you return your wallet back to your backpack.  
  
Dave walks over and sits on a stool on the other side of the counter, "Pizza dude said it'll be 30 minutes until our pizza gets here." You grab a black ink pen from your small collection of pens and look up at Dave, "What did you order?" "two medium pizzas, extra cheese, mushrooms, sausage.." You groan, "Are you sure we can even pay for that? I only have ten and you could be broke for all I know."  
  
"No worries bro, of course I've got the money to cover it." Dave points at himself, " 'Makes shitty webcomic, gets money thrown at him', remember? I could probably buy another fifty pizzas with cheese sticks and a drink with just my pocket change." You sputter, "What do you call pocket change? Three-hundred dollars?"  
  
"Something like that. B-R-B, gonna grab my homework stuff." Dave replies, hops off of his stool then walks to the door leading to his bedroom. You shake your head and return your eyes to the calculus you opened. Ugh, you really wish you didn't have to take this stuff. When will calculus ever be useful, ever? You're sure whatever career you end up doing won't require you to know all this pointless math!  
  
Dave returns with his books and paper, sitting on the same stool across from you. He swipes one of your pens and opens a book. You peek up at him to see him staring blankly at the pages in front of him before moving your eyes back down to your own homework.  
  
15 minutes or so pass by in silence until you hear the apartment door open and close softly. You look up at Dave and he looks over to the door way, "Bro, that you?" He calls. You both wait a moment, but no more sound is heard.  
  
Dave looks over at you, "Its probably just Bro being weird. He knows you were coming over today." You shrug and nod. Yeah, his bro is weird like that, right? He's probably going to do his weird ninja flash step thing and scare the crap out of you in a minute! That'd be like him.  
  
"Yo, you want a drink man?" Dave says as he slides off the bar stool and goes to the fridge, "We got apple juice, apple juice, orange soda, orange juice, apple juice...Oh and water." he says, looking into the opened mouth of the fridge. You snort, "What, you mean you actually put food in the fridge now?"  
  
"Yeah, Rose had a talk with Bro and got him to understand the fridge and the microwave isn't storage for his shit. Surprisingly he actually listened." Dave replies before pulling out an apple juice bottle and a water bottle. He tosses the water bottle at you and you squawk as you fumble to catch it. "Took too long, you get water."  
  
You absently look at the water bottle before placing it on the counter. You aren't quite sure what it is, but something draws your attention to the open mouth of the hall behind Dave. You almost don't believe what it is your eyes are telling you you're seeing, but it looks like..   
  
Red eyes, surrounded in a faint yellow glow. White, razor sharp fangs, tucked over a black lip with a matching one above them. Dark, dark, so much  _dark_  surrounding it. But you make out the wisps of cheekbones, protruding out under dark, gray skin. Black hair, crazy and everywhere, sticking up in many places. The only thing that sticks out amongst it is two orange nubby-- _somethings_. Horns? You aren't sure. It looks so out-of-place in that mess and with that face. You'd think it comical, if the  _thing_  wasn't staring straight at you.  
  
You notice belatedly that you are not breathing. You almost don't want to, but your lungs are stinging, begging for air. You suck in a long, tight breath through your teeth. The red eyes flicker to Dave's back for a second. You flicker yours to Dave, and notice his mouth is moving. He's talking to you, but you aren't hearing his words right about now. He turns around, starts moving for the hall, and you aren't sure what makes you do it, but you fling yourself up out of your chair after him.  
  
You bark out a "Don't!" and reach for Dave over the counter. He disappears around the corner and you start to scramble away, almost tripping and falling on your face over another stool. Shit shit shit, Dave doesn't know what he's going head fucking first into, does he? You've dealt with this for months, you  _know._    
  
You feel reluctant to go down the hall, because you  _know_  what's down there, you saw it, you saw it you saw it just stand there and  _stare_ at you, red eyes and sharp teeth and  _fuck_. But your friend could end up hurt or worse if he runs into it and though you aren't quite sure how you'll handle it, you feel you can handle it better.  
  
You start stumbling towards the hall, still unbalanced from almost tripping, before  _Wham!_ you whack your face right into someone's body. Technically, their chest.  
  
You look up to find you whacked right into Bro Strider. Into his toned chest, that is. He balances two pizza boxes in his open palm and looks down to you. Dave comes up behind him and peeks around his brother to look at you with a raised eyebrow. Um.  
  
"You okay, lil' man? Looking all kinds of freaked out, there." You slowly back away from Bro and give a high, nervous giggle as your response. Well, what are you supposed to say? "yeah no totally fine, just thought my best bro was going to get  _mauled to death_  by some demon that's been haunting my dreams for months that for some reason, is in your apartment right now. No big deal." Yeah, no. You aren't saying that in any universe, ever. But, that means you still need an excuse. Shit.  
  
You raise a fist to your mouth and fake cough, "I um, need to use the restroom real quick!" That was squeaky and high, damnit. Hopefully he buys it and lets you through anyway. Bro raises an eyebrow then, but doesn't say anything. He steps aside and Dave does the same. You feel a little nervous to, but you did just say you were going to the bathroom. You'd look even more suspicious if you backed out now.  
  
You take a nervous step forward before your brain catches up and pushes you along. You sneak a glance at Dave while you pass him, and kind of wish you didn't, because even with those shades you can practically see him say "What the fuck, bro?" with his eyes. Welp.  
  
You hurry to the bathroom and close the door as quietly as you can. You run your hand over the wall and flip the light on, then look around the room. It is indeed, demon free. You move to the sink and turn on the water, just desiding you're going to wash your hands and maybe run a little water over your face. You do.  
  
You pat your face dry with a hanging towel and dry your hands. Bluh, you're all kinds of high strung right now and that's not really a good thing to be around your bro and his bro. They'll start poking and prodding in a non-too subtle way until you spill. Just something about Striders makes you mildly uncomfortable, and with Bro you feel like you'd get your ass kicked if you don't tell them all your problems when they jab at you for it.  
  
Shoosh John, calm down. What are you talking about? You've been perfectly calm this whole time. Yeah, totally. Its bro bonding time, not freaking the fuck out time. That could probably wait until later, when you're at home alone in your room. (Spoilers: You totally freak the fuck out after you get home and are in your room. Round two of seeing it coming your way. But do you know that? Not yet.)  
  
You open the bathroom door and flick the light switch off, leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind you. You take in a light breath and breathe out, then head for the living room. Bro and Dave are at the counter chewing on pizza when you enter, and you quickly take on a chagrined look. You walk closer and take a stool next to Dave.  
  
Dave nods towards the pizza boxes that are laying on top of your homework. Wow, you hope the pizza grease doesn't soak through the cardboard and get on your homework. Your teachers wouldn't appreciate you handing in grease stained papers.  
  
You reach over and grab a slice of pizza, take a bite, and start chewing. You feel kind of really uneasy with how Bro is looking at you all straight faced like that. "You okay there, lil' dude?" Shit.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine! Just had to use the bathroom, is all.." You reply. You try to stop any further questions by very nonchalantly taking a large chomp off your pizza slice. Wow that sure is an interesting design on the side of the box, huh? Anything else would be more interesting than Bro's face, scrutinizing your words, desiding if he wants to believe them or not. You don't need to see it to know he isn't fully convinced. But he lets it go, and you silently thank whatever gods hang above you.  
  
Dave coughs, "So." "So?" You echo. "So is definitely the thing we are saying right now." Bro deadpans. Holy crap that turned awkward fast, wow. You let out a nervous giggle. This is going to be very awkward for the rest of the time you're here. Hooray.  
  
====>  
  
You spent the rest of the time at Dave's doing your homework with him while Bro went to play on a console. You didn't pay too much attention to him because you were kind of afraid you'd catch his shaded eyes and you'd spill like a knocked over glass of milk. But in all that, you got most of your work done, so all's good with you.  
  
After around 7, Bro drove you home in his old beat up pickup truck. By that time you desided to completely ignore all awkwardness and dive into conversation about his projects. Even the smuppet ones. Anything to keep him from asking you stuff when you would have literally no escape from it. He talked surprisingly excitedly about his projects, even with a stoic face. You will never understand Striders.  
  
As soon as you got home, you went straight to your room, dragging your feet at a snail's pace. You didn't think you'd be this tired. Oh well. You'll shower tomorrow though; you just want to flop in bed and sleep. You are quite sure your dad is in his study, doing work things, so you won't bother him. You texted him beforehand and told him you were on your way home, so he already knows.  
  
You turn the doorknob to your room and swing the door open, step in, and then promptly stop dead in your tracks.  
  
The door slowly closes on its own behind you.  
  
In front of you? Well.  
  
In front of you, your desk chair swiveled to face toward you, sits a figure.  
  
Ha. Hahaha. Um.  _Nope._  
  
You aren't quite sure what happens for a few seconds, because your brain has desidedly fucked right off. Noped right out of your cranium and gyrated the fuck away from  _that._ Probably did a little tap dance with its nonexistent legs as it fucked off and abandoned you.  
  
The figure in front of you grunts almost amusingly, than a voice says with a slight gravelly noise to it, "What the fuck are you staring at? You act like you've never seen me before." It takes you a moment to register  _Hey, it fucking talked to you_. You suck in a breath hard, and blink.  
  
This is  _definitely_  the Thing you've been seeing in dreams and just about everywhere else. Except you can see a lot of details you never saw before now.  
  
It sits on its haunches, crouched in your chair. Its legs are quite animalistic, though hairless. Its like a hairless cat,  you think. Except not so much weird skin in weird places, as it curves to muscle and bone protrusions smoothly. Feet like cat paws. The hands, long claws attached to the tips of fingers, hang between its thighs, the forearms resting on knees. You notice idly that its wearing a large black sweater, maybe two sizes too big for its body. Its shoulders are hunched, but wide. It could probably appear quite menacing if it stood on hind legs and squared its shoulders out, being probably a half a head taller than you at full height.  
  
Then you look at the face. Smooth looking skin, though its a medium to dark gray color. His jaw seems kind of small to fit the rest of him, and his hair is still as crazy as it was when you saw it earlier.  _(_ _You did see it earlier, right? There's no mistaking those eyes.)_  The eyes are just as bright blood red as always, surrounded in whites that is actually yellow, faintly glowing. Pupils like those from a cat, narrow slits. Pointed ears, but.. droopy? Hm. That's as close as you could describe it. Pearly white fangs, as always, though they set in an upward turn, a smirk. Black lips.  
  
You can see those little orange things poking out, and they do look like horns now. You can see little indents on them, texture swirling around them. It occurs to you how strange smooth horns are when the rest of it is so.. so pointy, so jagged. But then again, this entire situation is strange, isn't it?  
  
The figure in front of you rolls its catty eyes, and sets you with a hard stare. "I'm not an 'It', bulgemuncher. When are you going to snap out of your idiotic stupor? Yes, I'm really fucking here." As if on cue, it raises a clawed hand, and snaps its fingers. You fall back on your ass, dazed and now suddenly,  _really fucking terrified._  
  
You scramble back until your back hits the door, you curse under your breath. The figure in front of you lowers its head a little and stares very pointedly at you. "Karkat, by the way." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Muahaha, finally Kakat enters the scene. >:3  
> Most of this chapter was just Dave and school and such, but there will be a lot of John and Karkat in the next, promise! Kind of hard not to be after what happened, haha.
> 
> Also just if anyone wants, this is where else I post this story: http://www.quotev.com/TheWorldBeginswithYou I occasionally post updates and such about this story as I'm writing it. I'm thinking of bringing it to my tumblr, but haven't yet! So yeah. Feel free.


	3. Chapter 3

Your name is John Egbert.  
  
You are confused and scared out of your mind.  
  
Why? Because the demon you were  _totally right_  about, that's been haunting your dreams and stalking your waking self is sitting _right in front of you._  Staring at you, almost boredly now.  
  
Oh yeah, you forgot to mention you've been staring at him for a solid five minutes now. Beyond mentioning what you assume is his name  _(Karkat? Do demons have names? Its so strange.)_ he has made no move toward you, or said anything else. You haven't moved either; you're a little too scared to.  
  
Every time you made a move in your dreams, you'd get attacked. Why would it be any different now?  
  
Your panic and fear is slowly dissipating, however. He would've made a move by now, right? If he was going to hurt you? But he's not. You draw in a deep breath and watch the demon intently, before you let it out. He makes no moves toward you, or anywhere else.  
  
What are you supposed to say? Do? This is not at all how you imagined you would run into the demon. Considering how you thought it would go, though, this is strangely favorable. You let your shoulders slump down a little; easing up a bit. You don't think he intends to hurt you. Not right now, anyway.  
  
"W-what..why?" You breathe out. The demon in front of you tilts his head a little. "What do you mean, 'why'?" he grumbles. You swallow before continuing, "Why me? Why are you following me?" That earns you a snort from the creature.  
  
He melts down out of the chair, hands first and weird legs after, onto the floor. He stalks closer to you at a slow pace, but your heart instantly jumps up into your throat; blood pounding hard in your ears. He squints the moment your heart rate picks up. He stops at your side and stares..oddly soft at you.  
  
His tone, however, is not anywhere soft when he says, "Opposites attract, dipshit." Um. What?  
  
He must guess from your confused expression; eyebrows drawn, eyes squinting; that you don't have a clue what he's talking about. He sighs heavily before setting you with an annoyed look. "You're an Heir of Breath, I'm Knight of Blood. One inverts to the other. Opposites. Attract. Unfortunately." You still have no clue what he's talking about.  
  
"Use your goddamn think pan, you ignorant bulgelicker." He snaps at you suddenly; you jump a little from his harsh tone. "Do you really not have a single inkling as to what I'm talking about?" You slowly shake your head no.  
  
He raises a clawed hand then, and you panic for a split second as you slam your eyes shut tight and brace yourself for what would definitely be one nasty shredding. He never touches you though. You open your eyes to see him gripping at his hair. You're even more confused now.  
  
He looks down at you, eyes half lidded with annoyance, "Look, all you need to know is that your aspect; Breath; drew me to you, and I can't fucking leave now. I'm stuck here with you whether either of us like it or not." He lets his arm drop down between his thighs then, "And stop freaking out like a damn wriggler that ran into a culling drone. If I attacked you I'd get my waste expelling chute blasted to bits. I don't have a fucking death wish."  
  
You ease a little at his words. You really have no idea what he's talking about, but he sounded sincere to you, if extremely annoyed.  
  
He moves back over to your desk chair and hops up onto it with all the grace of a fat cat. He plops his butt into it, keeps his legs drawn up, rests his hands on his knees, and stares at you. It probably would be awkward to walk around when he's like, half animal? Can he stand on his back legs alone? Now you're pretty curious about a lot of things with this demon, now that your fear is pretty much gone. You always thought stuff like this only happened in the movies; its like you're in a movie or a book now!  
  
You suddenly have a lot of questions to ask Karkat, but the one you really want to ask is: why can't he leave? You realize he's still staring at you, half lidded red eyes and pointy teeth sticking out from behind his lips. Now that you're looking at him-- _really looking_ , not just staring blindly--he's kind of..attractive. You aren't quite sure what it is that makes you think that; maybe the way his hair frames his face, the black lips that's got little indents in them from his teeth; Its strange, and definitely alien to you, but interesting. Interesting to see all the little things of him, not just see some shapeless black blob.  
  
Wait, what? Did you just think a male was attractive? Hahaha; must be aftershock, or something. Yeah, just--You aren't gay, or anything--He's a guy, you're a guy, that's not going to happen and its  _definitely_ not going to happen with a demon! Jesus, maybe you're more tired than you realized. Yeah, that's it. You need to just flop onto your bed and fall asleep.   
  
"You do realize I can pretty much read you like an open book." Karkat suddenly comments. You jump and blink a few times. Uh, he can? Oh shit. "I-I--I wasn't thinking anything weird, really! I'm just, really tired, yeah!" You're a stuttering mess, all flustered. If that isn't a dead giveaway-  
  
"I don't know what 'he' or 'male' is fuckface. Stop trying to use your inferior idiotic titles on me." Oh. Well.  
  
"Um, then what should I use for you? I mean, you look a lot like a guy to me.. What's your gender?" Karkat shakes his head, maybe thinking he can shake your stupid away from his brain. "I don't know what 'gender' is either. You humans put stupid titles on  _everything_  for no damn reason." He replies. You take on a nonplussed look and stand up from the ground, using the door as a brace. "I mean like... what kind of, uh, "parts" do you have?" You make little air quotes around the word. Karkat looks even more confused now. Maybe a little angry, too. Whoops.  
  
You run a hand through your hair, "Uhm, nevermind, that's stupid. Rose is always telling me gender and "parts" don't relate anyway." Karkat still looks confused. You are really not explaining this very well, are you?  
  
"When are you going to start making sense? Any plans for it soon, or is your think pan really that small and underdeveloped? Have you just been bumbling your way through life like this?" Wow, you think Karkat is a little long winded. He got all that in in one breath. Dave would be a little jealous. You're not sure what a thinkpan is, but you think you're a little insulted. Hrm.   
  
You're going to have to reword this. "What pronouns should I use for you?" You're going to try this approach. Karkat looks almost taken aback. "What's wrong with calling me Karkat? And who the fuck are you going to go around telling about me anyway, you shitstain? You realize no one but you can see me, right." You bat your eyes a couple of times. Really? Would that explain...?  
  
You guess it would. Huh. Okay. You walk to your bed, or kind of more shuffle. You keep a sidewards look on Karkat. Though you aren't really afraid anymore, you're still a little nervous. You sit down on the edge of the bed towards the foot end. "I mean, I didn't know that, but I'm glad I do now! And I guess I can just call you Karkat. I'm mostly asking because it seems a little silly to me to think "Karkat this Karkat that" all the time. Its more of a personal thing."  
  
Karkat rolls his eyes, and slumps back into the chair. "If you simply  _must_  put labels on me, go the fuck ahead. Have at it." Uh, okay. He seems angry, like, a lot? He'll probably cool down after a while.  
  
"Oh yeah, Karkat! Why can't you leave anyway? I mean, you're kind of a demon with powers, right?.." You ask. Karkat squints a little at you. "Do you think I haven't tried?" He throws an arm up suddenly, "Oh yeah, been stuck here for months, watching an idiot blindly grope his ass through life," You let out a tiny snort, "Didn't ask to be drawn here, but here I am! I'm stuck because this is the Physical Plane. Energy--Souls--get stuck here. To people or to items or places.  
  
"Why do you think you hear all those stories of a "haunted house" with some demon or "ghost" or what-the-fuck-ever being stuck and the useless humans have to call in help to "cleanse the house". There's energy in  _everything_ , we get attracted to certain kinds, like smells. Then we're stuck, like once we're here, some fucker back behind us slams the door in our face and locks us here." Throughout the whole rant, Karkat swung his arms around, claws clicked together occasionally, putting extra emphasis on certain words, you noticed.  
  
You look at Karkat kind of wide eyed. Well, really wide eyed. You thought all that stuff about ghosts was a bunch of made up crap, but it seems like its true afterall! Karkat is fuming in the chair now, though. It looks like all you managed to do was make him madder. "Oh, uh, sorry to hear about that Karkat. So like, you were attracted to my- my energy?"  
  
Karkat sighs, "Yeah, un-fucking-fortunately. I wandered too close to the middle, where I could Sense energies from this plane. I don't know where the fuck you were to be so close to the crossing, but I could Sense your energy from even that far. It was so much stronger than any of the other energies, and like the stupid horn-grabbing wriggler I was, I went straight to it without a second thought as to the consequences."  
  
Huh. "So.. you really are stuck here?" Karkat snorts, "No moron, I said that as a joke. I can leave just about any fucking time I want, I just like torturing you. Of course I'm stuck you cancerous piece of shit!" You wince from his volume alone. Ouch. Are all demons this mean and angry all the time?  
  
What are you talking about, its a demon. What did you expect? Sure wasn't rainbows and kittens and candy. Wow brain, you need to catch up a little here. Maybe you should go to sleep. Except...  
  
"You know I've been having nightmares because of you." You scrunch your face up after you say it, and Karkat blinks once before settling on a bored, annoyed look. "Yeah. So?"  
  
"Well what the hell, man! Why didn't you just show yourself as soon as you got here instead of putting me through that?" You huff and cross your arms. Karkat raises a dark eyebrow before replying, annoyance laced with every word, "Because I needed to feed, fuckface. What do you think demons feed off? Hm, oh I don't know,  _fear?_  How do I make you scared so I can feed if I don't have the power to do the random poltergeist bullshit?  
  
"And even by the time you'd get scared, I would probably have starved to death because you're just such a gigantic idiot that you wouldn't even notice when I'm slamming doors or what the fuck ever," he leans back in the chair and moves his legs over the arm of it, "Next best thing is to scare you through dreams, though its almost as painfully slow as moving real shit. You wonder why its been for months? I was starving when I got here, and only just today got what I needed. Besides, you dragged me here, you deserved it."  
  
You shake your head; Really? Its not like you did it on purpose! And honestly, he might've seriously scarred you! You can't just get over something like this so soon. You're really uneasy even having him in the same room. Knowing he's actually here, he's not just some made up thing you thought you were seriously messed up about for having imagined it, isn't helping much either.  
  
You might need a therapist because of him. Ugh, is he going to be stuck here forever?  
  
Karkat has leaned his head back against his arm which is slung over the other armrest, and he doesn't look like he's looking at anything, really. Well, okay. You glance at your alarm clock. Its been an half an hour or a little more since you got home. Ugh. You have school tomorrow, you can't deal with this right now.  
  
"Look Karkat, I have school tomorrow, I need to sleep. Can I... Can I trust you not to like, kill me in my sleep or..?" The question sounds stupid even to you. You're talking to a demon. You're asking a demon if you can trust it, you're asking a demon not to kill you in your sleep, the one that's been doing that to you in your dreams. Wow. You aren't quite sure how to deal with this.  
  
Karkat waves his hand dismissively. "I can't attack you. I don't know what the fuck it is, but I can't attack you. Physically. Only in your dreams. Trust me, I've tried." You are still unsure about that, but. If this is really happening, you are pretty sure he would have attacked you if given the chance. He sure sounds like he hates you enough.  
  
"Okay. Are you going to sleep in that chair, or? Do you need a pillow?" This entire situation is so weird, wow. Karkat lets out a puff of air before answering, "No. Demons don't sleep in the physical plane. I don't ever, really. Just shut your protein chute and leave me alone." He doesn't sound as angry, at least.  
  
You...You're going to just sleep in your clothes and change them in the morning. Something about changing your clothes in front of a guy ( _monster_ ) just strikes you as wrong. With that, you pull the covers back and flop into the bed, then pull the covers up over you. You lay facing to the rest of your room. You sure aren't comfortable enough to sleep with your back to him yet.  
  
You look to your desk and the accompanying chair, and yeah, he's still in it. You were kind of (not really) hoping he was just your imagination. He's still laying in the same position, staring up at your ceiling. You pull your glasses off of your face and set them on the table next to you, then lay down. You stare at the weird blob laying in your chair for a bit, until suddenly you aren't. You drift in an expanse of black nothing.  
  
====>  
  
You begin to gain consciousness, the black turning into a dull pink behind your closed eyelids. You stretch all your limbs out, sighing, and rest back against the bed. You place an arm over your eyes and just rest. That sleep was strangely more restful than what you've had in months. Not great, but better.  
  
You're slowly gaining more awareness. Its morning, you're sleeping in your clothes from yesterday, and... hmm. You didn't have a nightmare this time. That's a little unusual. Not unwelcome, but unusual. Today is a school day. You groan quietly. Not school--what day even is it?  
  
You turn over and let your arm flop from its space over your eyes. It lightly bumps into something plush. You squeeze your eyes tight, then open them slowly. There's, uh. A blob. everything looks like a blob, actually. That isn't very helpful. You reach up to your bedside table and find your glasses, prop yourself up on an elbow, then slide the glasses onto your face. Whoa okay, that sure is a big, fluffy, gray...  
  
Demon, sitting right in front of you. Oh. You blink a couple of times, and the red eyes ahead of you blink back. They are pretty close to yours, actually. Like maybe just a few inches from you. Your eyes widen and you almost throw yourself back, away from the once wide red eyes that now turn to a annoyed half-lidding. Oh yeah, you have a demon in your room. You gasp, drawing in a large breath of air and letting it go; rinse and repeat.  
  
Karkat sits on his haunches in front of your bed, watching you with an annoyed stare. He moves an arm to his knee and props his head up in the palm of his hand. You squeeze your eyes closed for a moment and open them again. Karkat purses his lips for a second, "You touched me." You draw your eyebrows together. You, guess you did? With the back of your hand? "Um. Yeah?" He makes a 'hmm' noise in his throat then wanders over to your desk chair, hops into it, spins it toward you and stares at you.  
  
Can you say that its kind of unnerving how much he just  _stares_  at you? Because it is. You kind of wish he'd stop that.  
  
But shit, you have to get up and take a shower and get ready for school! You shake your head slightly and jump out of bed, wobble over to your dresser and start to pull clothes out at random. "What the fuck are you doing?" You hear from behind you. "I have to get ready for school, dude!" you toss over your shoulder along with a shirt. "You mean you're leaving for the entire day again."  
  
You didn't think about it too much before--you kind of passed out as soon as you were able--but Karkat has been around this whole time. He's been physically here while you were at school most days. But there were those days you'd see his form in school, too. He must get really bored here, actually. Wait, what do you care? You don't even want him around, you don't care. Nope.  
  
"Yes I am. Now I need to go take a  _shower_  so I can go to  _school._  You stay here." You turn your head to stick your tongue out at him, and catch sight of one very angry demon glaring at you. "And who do you think you  _are,_  telling  _me_  what to do?" He sits in a position that looks like he's ready to pounce on you at any moment. You stop and realize, yeah, its probably a pretty bad idea to tell a demon what to do.  
  
You swallow down the rising panic and turn your body toward the door. "Uh, well I don't know! I just need to go get ready, so-" With that, you hurry out of your room and quickly close your door behind you. You heave a sigh too full of nerves before heading for the bathroom.  
  
You have a quick, hot shower, brush your teeth, and stare at your hair in the mirror. Is it even worth trying? Your bedhead hair is always so wild; You sometimes imagine there's a squirrel living in there that might just jump out the next time you rake a comb through it. But its still wet, you still have a chance. You brush through your hair, getting it to some semblance of tame, and piece bits together.  
  
You think you spend a lot of time on hair that never really changes, but whatever. You gather your dirty clothes and towel up in your arms and leave the bathroom. You contemplate just going downstairs and putting the clothes directly in the washer instead of going to your room, but you kind of have to anyway. Your backpack is in there. Bluh.  
  
You sigh, then walk to your room. You open the door and walk in, keeping your eyes mostly on your shuffling feet. You make it to the foot of your bed and drop your clothes in, turn around, and see that Karkat is not in the desk chair. Or anywhere else in the room. Um?  
  
Maybe he can make himself invisible to you? You have no clue to be honest, but at least he isn't here being all angry and stuff. You walk over to the door and grab your backpack, leave the room and close the door behind you. You make your way downstairs and to the kitchen.  
  
You walk in to find your dad cooking breakfast, and Karkat sitting on the table. No, seriously, he's sitting  _on_  the table, right between the plates laid out on the table. He's curiously poking at the orange juice in a glass. You watch in utter horror and maybe a little amusement as he pulls a claw out from the glass and licks at it with his long, snake-like tongue, pulling a face before repeating the act again.  
  
You are again in horror as your dad turns around, greets you with a "Good morning" and sets food on the plates. Karkat watches your dad very closely until he returns to the stove, and then returns to the orange juice. Oh good Jegus.  
  
You mumble a greeting to your dad and sit down at the table. Well, kind of. Your chair is pulled much farther from the table than normal, putting some distance between you and the demon still lapping at your orange juice. You are not drinking that, nope. You glare up at Karkat. He notices and sneers at you, then pulls his hand back from the glass. He turns his glare on your dad as he turns back around and sits down in his chair.  
  
Wow if this isn't awkward. You can't even  _see_  your dad with Karkat in the way, but you know he can see you. If you act weird and stare up at the ceiling for no discernible reason to him, you're going to get some weird questions. You're sure he's already thinking something is off, since you're so far from the table. You force a small smile and slide your chair closer to the table cautiously, pick up your fork and start eating. You hear noises like silverware clinking against a plate on the other side.  
  
"So, have any plans for today, son?" Your dad asks. You swallow, "I don't think so. After school, I mean." Karkat still sits between the two of you, a bored look on his face. He looks back and forth between you and your dad each time one of you speaks. Ugh, you wish he'd just get off the table!  
  
"Ah. Any projects for school needed done?" Bluh, if only your dad knew how hard it is to do this when you can't even  _see_  him! You try to keep your eyes on your plate and not wander around. "Umm, I don't think so? My art teacher mentioned something about painting the other day so maybe I'll have that." You are the master at keeping calm and staying on-topic. Even when Karkat glares at you when you mention school.  
  
"That sounds fun. So I wondering, if you don't have anything to do after school, would you like to come with me to the store to pick up a few things?" Your dad says. You swallow down another chunk of egg, "Mh? What for? What are you getting?" Your dad chuckles, "Halloween is this month, son. We have a couple of weeks before then." Ohhh. You forgot all about Halloween. You should be ashamed for forgetting, its only your second favorite holiday! (Your first being April Fools day, hehe.)  
  
"What the fuck is 'Halloween'?" Karkat questions. You almost look up at him but heavily resist doing so. You ignore him completely. You grin instead and stand up, using your dishes as an excuse to leave the table. "Yeah, no problem! I am totally getting the biggest pumpkin they have and I'm going to use the insides as guts, hehe." Your dad releases a laugh and his dishes join yours in the sink. "Its a little early to get Jack-o-lanterns, but I will not doubt that you will do that when we get them." He pats your head then, ruffling your messy dark locks of hair.  
  
You swat his hand away and smile. He returns the smile before turning around and leaving the room, probably to go get his car keys and the like. You hear a thump and look toward the source of the sound, seeing karkat has hopped off the table. He looks kind of small down there, sitting on the floor all hunched in on himself and pointedly ignoring you. You huff and turn up your nose before you walk out of the kitchen and pick up your backpack.  
  
You walk to the door and slip on your shoes as your dad comes to stand next to you. You both go to leave the house, but as you exit after your dad, Karkat scampers out ahead of you. You let out a startled noise and your dad turns back towards you, "What's wrong, son?" Oh shit. "Oh, uhh, nothing really! I just, think...uhh..Did you remember your wallet..?" Ugh. Out of all the excuses-  
  
Your father pats around his person, searching his pockets. He finds that his wallet is not in his pocket. "Oh, it seems I did forget it. Good catch, son. I'm so proud of you for helping your old man." You go utterly shocked for a moment. Holy shit, that worked? Your dad flashes you a fatherly grin and walks back into the house. You quickly shake your surprise off, because crap Karkat is trying to break into your dad's car now shit. You jog over to the car and Karkat halts his attempts to break the back seat window on the passenger side. He emits a low, irritated growl and glares up at you.  
  
You shake your head, but you really don't have time for this. You open the passenger door and Karkat quickly jumps in, crawling over the middle console into the back of the car. He wedges himself down into the floor space behind the drivers seat, then glares at you, as if challenging you to say anything.  
  
You don't. Instead, you climb into the passengers seat and close your door. Your dad exits the house a moment later, then closes and locks the door. He walks down the drive to the car, opens the door, slides in and closes his door. As he buckles his seatbelt, you have an idea. You move your backpack to the back seat before your dad starts up the car. You figure if Karkat is gonna (not at all your idea) come to school with you, you don't want your dad and anyone around thinking you're weird for holding the passenger door open for too long as you wait for the demon to crawl out. At least putting the backpack in the back serves as some sort of excuse.  
  
Your dad pulls out of the driveway and heads for the school. "So son, what would you like to do for Halloween this year?" Your dad keeps his eyes on the road, hands slack on the steering wheel but staying in place. "Oh, well I think I'm too old for trick-or-treating, but I totally wanna dress up anyway. Maybe I could invite my friends over and we could have like a mini party or something?"  
  
Your dad seems to contemplate this, then grins. "Sure, son. Who all are you thinking of inviting?" Well gosh, you don't know. You just suggested that idea, you didn't really think your dad would take you up on it either. "Well definitely Jade and Rose and Dave. Maybe some other friends if they want!" Your dad nods. "I'll be adding some things to the few things we need to get, then. I could make some Halloween themed cupcakes for the gathering, so I'll need to get food coloring and more sugar. Perhaps I will also need.." This is when you start drowning it out. Once your dad starts in on the baking talk, it could go on and on. He'll probably continue to list things off long after he's dropped you off at school.  
  
"Again, what the fuck is 'Halloween'?" comes from behind you. You pointedly ignore him, because you can't just start talking to the floor in the back seat, gosh.  
  
You pull up to the curve just outside the school, "Okay okay, I'll see you after school. Bye, dad." You say. Your dad nods and watches you exit the car. You open the back door and reach in for your backpack. Karkat takes the chance to slink out from the back and wander off. You close the door and give a tiny wave to your dad before heading into the school.  
  
Wherever Karkat wandered off to, its not anywhere you can see. Which you're glad about, because you still really didn't want him following you around all day. Now, first period is Science.  
  
====>  
  
It is now Third period, which is Art class for you. This is probably your favorite class because you never really get homework, your teacher is really lax, and you just get to draw stupid stuff every day. Occasionally if you draw or paint something you're really proud of, you'll take it home with you and show your dad. He always tells you how proud he is of you and then you decide where to put it. Art class is awesome.  
  
You head for the classroom, a couple of other students filing in early as well, taking their seats. You walk towards your claimed seat for the year, one in the corner of the room, but stop. Uhm, somebody is already in your seat? You can only see an arm poking out from behind some large canvases. You walk closer, readying yourself to either ask the person to move or reluctantly find another chair, depending on who it is.  
  
You come around the set up canvas on the easel and find Karkat. He's sitting with his feet up on the stool, staring at the blank canvas in front of him. A few jars of paint are open beside him, though it looks like he hasn't touched any of it yet. You tilt your head a little, trying to get a look at his face. He catches sight of you trying to peek at him behind his messy mop of hair and sneers.  
  
You straighten up quickly, then quirk your eyebrows together. You look around for a second, and it seems no one is paying attention to you. You return sight to Karkat and whisper, "Karkat, can you please move? I sit here." He quickly turns his head up toward you to glare at you, the glow of his red irises and yellow sclera mixing to make an intense orange glow. His glares are so unnerving.  
  
You whisper a little more quiet, "Please Karkat? I always sit here, I just don't want people thinking I'm weird." The glare never wavers, and it lingers for a few seconds longer after you speak, but Karkat eventually breaks the staring contest to hop off of the seat. He lands with a thud and decides to stay close to the table of paint, backed up in the very corner of the room.  
  
You let a little sigh slip past your lips and flop down onto the stool, shrugging off your backpack. You wonder how no one else can hear him when he makes so much noise, but you guess it ties in with the "only you can see me" thing.  
  
A couple of minutes pass and more students rush in, the teacher not far behind. Your art teacher is a tall tan guy, maybe in his late 20s, with red dyed streaks in his brown hair. Its cut short on the sides and long on the top. He wears a faded red button up shirt with the cuffs rolled up, and black slacks. He's got the whole laid back feeling to him, and he very much proves that's how he is daily. He sits on a stool towards the middle of the room and gives a wide, relaxed smile to his class.  
  
"Alright guys, so today we're gonna do the whole "paint a bowl of fruit" thing, because I am totally still a teacher and that's a thing I'm supposed to make you do. Oh well. I say be creative with it though, yeah? Draw faces on the fruit, make it cartoony, paint it upside down; Whatever you wanna do! Its only gotta be in paint and have at least most of the fruit in it." He stands up then, grabs a bowl of arranged fruit and places it on a table in the very middle of the classroom. He returns to his seat then, "Have at it, yo."  
  
Mr. Nitram is totally your favorite teacher. You pick up a stray paint brush, peek around your canvas at the fruit bowl before returning to your canvas. You wonder how you can make yours unique. It'd be an interesting addition to your slowly growing collection of random art. As you go to dip the brush into a bottle of light blue, you hear a growl from behind you. Karkat moves up quickly, and you almost fall out of your chair at how fast he shoulders himself up beside you.  
  
You look around you, and thankfully you're still going unnoticed. The room is abuzz with chatter and laughing, your teacher having moved to a stool off to the side on the far wall so as not to get in the way of his students. Karkat is standing on his hind legs, more hunched over than you would think is humanly possible ( _he's not human, john_ ) and peers at the bottles of paint curiously.  
  
You take on a completely nonplussed look as he holds both hands up, focuses on them intently. You have no idea what he's doing until you look down. His claws are slowly retracting back, just completely disappearing like it wasn't ever that long to begin with. It continues for a couple of seconds, the sharp points rounding out bluntly, and he stops once he's satisfied.  
  
He reaches his hands down towards the paint, his still long-though-not-nearly-as-long claws dip into several bottles of paint at once. He reaches up to the canvas and starts splattering the paint in an odd circle. You want to go " _holy shit karkat no you're going to attract attention and ruin the canvas"_  but you're in utter awe at the current moment. He dips his claws into the paint, splatters the paint across the canvas, makes little marks in paint in certain areas with his thumb, and repeats the process over again.  
  
You then realize that you're not moving at all, just staring at the canvas as he paints. People will think something is up if you don't start moving, so you regrip your brush and bring it close to the jars. Karkat growls deep in his throat, a warning. You whisper, "I'm not gonna mess up your painting, I have to pretend like I'm painting." He narrows his eyes at you, then growls, "Put that nasty fucking brush on my shit and I will eviscerate you." You nod dumbly, and hesitate. He stares at you a moment longer before returning to his painting.  
  
You just sort of jab the dry brush at the table and move it around a few inches above the canvas when karkat goes to dip his claws into the paint. You angled the easel in a way that only you can see what's going on behind the large canvas, and you're glad you did now. You mostly did it just because you didn't like people looking over your shoulder while you did whatever you did, but now there's a whole new reason to it.  
  
You continue on like this for a few minutes, then it stretches into a couple dozens of minutes. Karkat is fully focused on his painting, but you split your attention between watching him and watching out for anyone who might come over to check how you're doing. It would look  _really_  weird if the paint was just magically flying onto the canvas by itself.  
  
Holy shit you just had a great idea. You used to dabble in magic tricks and the like, but with Karkat you could totally trick anyone into thinking you really are magic! You are so trying that sometime. You'd just have to convince Karkat to help you. Man you could become a world class magician with Karkat's help! That would be  _so. Cool._  
  
You grin widely to yourself, not noticing that you are, too busy thinking about your possible future as The Best Magician Ever. Karkat notices though. He dwells no longer than a second on it, deciding that you're probably just thinking of some really stupid thing he wouldn't understand.  
  
That lasts a couple of minutes, and you safely tuck away the idea for later. Your teacher has started making rounds, checking on how everyone is doing. "Psst. Karkat, chill a minute, the teacher is coming over!" You whisper to him. He huffs loudly but moves his hands away from the painting. Mr. Nitram comes up to your left side, and you pretend to pull the brush away from the canvas. You drop it into a bottle of paint Karkat hasn't really used and look up at your teacher.  
  
"How's it going, John? Can I see?" He motions toward the canvas and you nod. Karkat watches him with a very intense stare as he peeks around the canvas at the painting. His eyes promptly enlarge almost comically. "Holy- Bangarang! John this painting is fucking  _awesome_ , dude!" You look at the canvas.  
  
You have to blink a few times to fully take in what you're seeing. There sits the bowl of fruit, but its got a dark undertone to everything, surrounded in a shroud of dark red and blues, lighting and shading on it like its sitting at the bottom of a well, just letting the reaches of light to the bottom. The fruit in the bowl is actually all mashed together, though dictinct. They all have a red splatter on them, and looks like its glistening. Hopy shit, Karkat.  
  
Mr. Nitram pats you on the back, "Man I have never given a student an A+ so fucking fast, but there's a first for everything, yeah? Good job, John." You let a small smile slide onto your lips; you feel kind of bad about the credit going to you, but  _you_  know the real artist, and he's going to get a lot of praise on this later!  
  
Your teacher walks off then, a wide smile on his face. You look over at Karkat with a widening smile, and he looks just so damn smitten with himself right now. Completely justified, you think. He reaches for the paint again, not able to fight off a large smirk, "Now fuck off shitstain, I'm not done yet." and goes back to putting what you guess is his finishing touches. You return to doing jack shit but watch the demon beside you work the paint.  
  
==>  
  
You leave the class along with everyone else, Karkat follows behind you. He has quickly drying paint stuck on his claws so you figure he'd probably like to wash it off. You head for the boys' room, motioning for Karkat to come with. He seems mildly confused but does so anyway. Looks like there's no one in here, at least not in the open.  
  
You have Karkat stand on his hind legs again, get his hands into the sink and turn on the water. He eyes you suspiciously before slowly putting his hands under the warm gush of water. He quietly scrubs at his skin and under his nails to get the flicks of paint off.  
  
You grin at him, "You really are talented, Karkat! That was such an awesome painting, it looked so dark and grody and just really cool." Karkat's face contorts again, trying to fight off a smile. He continues to scrub at his fingers, and grunts in acknowledgement. "Where did you learn to paint like that?" You ask.  
  
He is dead serious when he looks up at you, glowing eyes showing off a glint of something you aren't sure you want to know behind them, his mouth in a strangely wicked grin, "I 'paint' in the blood of fallen demons. Ones I killed. My walls were covered in 'paintings'." You hold his stare for a few seconds longer before he drops his gaze back to his hands. "Oh." Is your belated response. He snorts, then pulls his hands from the sink.  
  
You turn the water off, Karkat starts shaking his hands back and forth, trying to get rid of the water before he just wipes it off on the lower part of his sweater. You can imagine him doing the same thing with blood-coated claws.  
  
Bluh, okay, don't think about that John. That just creeps you out and you're at school, you can internally flip out later when you're in private. You head for the door, and Karkat silently follows.  
  
====>  
  
You arrive at the store with your dad. You attempt to leave Karkat in the car, but when you went to close the door Karkat jumped out and pushed you to the side, making you yelp and stumble backward. Your dad is of course concerned, and you try to play it off as having just slipped while getting out. You're thankful that he accepted that. But, Karkat.  
  
You two  _(three)_  walk into the store, and your dad gets a cart. "Alright son, while I go get baking supplies, how about you go look at the Halloween decorations? But remember its too early for pumpkins, so please refrain from picking any out." You grin and nod, and you head your separate ways.   
  
Karkat follows you as you enter an aisle full of the classics: Plastic spiders, trick-or-treating buckets for kids, packs of fake cobweb, little ghosts to hang from trees, etc. This is all the smaller stuff though; the bigger things are in the next aisle. Candy in the aisle down from that. You deside to look up and down the aisle along the shelves. Karkat sits right about in the middle and watches you pace back and forth.  
  
"Are you going to tell me what the fuck 'Halloween' is? Is it just some stupid human thing that you're trying to keep secret from me? 'oh haha Karkat doesn't know what Halloween is, the fucking loser'." You snort and stop when you're around him to look at him, "Okay yeah, you are a loser for not knowing what it is, and I'm honestly surprised that you don't because Halloween is kind of a thing  _because_  of you guys. Demons, I mean. Also monsters and such."  
  
He continues to stare annoyed at you, "Care to elaborate further, fuckface?" You roll your eyes. "Okay. Halloween is a holiday on the thirty-first of october--this month--Its a holiday where people buy a bunch of candy, decorate their houses in spooky stuff and dress up, and mostly kids go trick-or-treating. That's when they go door to door saying "Trick-or-treat" and whoever lives in the house gives them candy." Karkat stares at you with a weird mixture of anger and confusion plastered across his face. Its quite a sight to see, you note amusingly.   
  
"What the actual fuck. Why are humans so weird." He states it more than asks, and you huff. "Why the gourds? The orange things the older human guardian keeps mentioning?" "What, pumpkins? Dude, its a tradition! You cut the top off, dig out all the gooey stuff inside, then carve a face or something on it. You put a candle in it and plop it outside and bam, Jack-o-lantern. In the past people would make Jack-o-lanterns to ward off demons and stuff I think? And like, trick-or-treating, the people in the houses would offer treats to kids that came up to the door and whatever, I don't really remember why. But yeah, that's Halloween!" You explain.  
  
You suddenly realize, wow just about anyone could've come into the aisle and saw you talking to an empty spot in the middle of the floor. Oops. Well you just hope it isn't anyone you know. You can deal with being thought of as a weirdo if its just some stranger. Karkat scrunches up his face for a few seconds, then shrugs and relaxes again. "Humans are really fucking weird. And stupid. Like some orange gourd is going to stop anyone from getting into their houses."  
  
You roll your eyes again, extra hard. "Whatever. You're the one who doesn't understand, but I do and I'm going to celibrate it!" You punctuate your point by going and grabbing a pack of the aforementioned plastic spiders, fake cobweb and tree ghosts. You stick your tongue out at Karkat before leaving the aisle and walking into the next one.  
  
Now this. This is where the more extreme ones can get their blow-ups, the big headstones to stick in their yards and the like. You think you still have the plastic headstones from a couple of years ago in the attic, so you're not going to need to get anything like that. You do think you'll get this skeleton sign for the front door, though. And maybe a couple of those dolls that hang from a string to put up somewhere.  
  
Your arms are starting to fill up now, so you think its a good idea to go find your dad. Buuut, the candy is in the next aisle. Okay, you tell yourself, you'll grab two packs of candy and then go find your dad. Hopefully he'll be done shopping for baking stuff by then.  _(You highly doubt it though.)_ You exit the aisle, go into the candy one, and pick out two large bags with mixed chocolate in it.  
  
Yesss, this is perfect. Now to find your dad. It'll be relatively easy, since there's only a couple of aisles in this store that has baking ingredients in it. You start in the direction of the grocery side of the store. Karkat is no where to be seen. He's probably getting into some kind of trouble. But its not around you so he can do whatever! As long as it doesn't make people think you're weird.  
  
You turn the corner into one of the aisles where you're sure you could find your dad, and find yourself behind a small crowd gathering into the aisle. Uh oh.  
  
You push yourself through them, and find karkat tearing into a bag of marshmellows. They stick to his claws as he nibbles at them before swallowing it whole. There are several people around, all worried glances and calling 911 on their cell phones. Where you see a small demon, they see floating marshmellows. Whenever someone gets close to him, he growls and swats his sticky claws at them, making them yelp and jump back.  
  
You openly gape, because  _holy fuck Karkat what._ When he catches sight of you standing there, he drops the marshmellows and licks the last of it off of his claws. He comes to stand by you while everyone springs into nervous chatter. Uhm. Okay.  
  
You slip by some more strangers and casually grab a bag of marshmellows before absconding from the aisle along with Karkat. You find your dad a couple of aisles down. You dump all your gathered things into the cart as he stops examining a box of baking soda to smile at you. You foce a small smile in return, "I think I'm done with shopping for a while."  
  
Karkat sits beside you, eyeing the bag of marshmellows with a lop-sided smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's chapter three. ^-^
> 
> The next chapter is going to be a halloween special, hehe. If you want to suggest what the kids dress up as, or who else John invites to his little party, feel free to! I haven't given it any thought at all yet.
> 
> Also I finally got it set up on tumblr: http://itty-kitty-bits.tumblr.com/ The tag being WGBITNau for lack of anything better. I'll be posting the chapters there as well, and posting any art I make for it! there's one I did of what John would look like in this au. (though quality sucks; thanks tumblr) I think that's all I wanted to say. ^^;


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Halloween one! Yay!

"Demon Diary - Property of John Egbert"  
\------------------------------  
Oct. 8th  
  
Karkat gets his large bag of marshmellows you picked up from the store. You told your dad that you'd just snack on them. Karkat has them all gone within the day. Imagine a gray, black haired being huddled against the bed frame with marshmellow fluff all over his hands and mouth, determined not to let a single bit go to waste. You discover he really likes marshmellows.  
  
Oct. 10th  
  
It is the weekend. You get the idea to have Karkat draw. You get paper and a pencil, have him sit in your desk chair and let him draw. It ends ten or so minutes later when the pencil snaps. You complain about it being your best pencil. You only get the explanation of "I have huge fucking claws dipshit, I can't even  _hold_ the damn thing." You are still slightly upset about losing your best pencil.  
  
Oct. 11th  
  
You stay inside for the day to catch up on homework. Karkat bugs you. It doesn't take much of him complaining about your boring human existence to pull you from your work. You decide you'll introduce him to Movies. You excitedly pick your favorites and have a movie marathon with Karkat. He complains about how shitty every one of them are, even Ghost Busters. You thought he'd like that one. You sulk for the entirety of the next day.   
  
Oct. 13th  
  
You are at your favorite place to rent movies. You've seen all of the action ones here, then you get an idea. You rent a horror movie, a chick flick, a parody and an animated movie. You go home and tell Karkat you have more movies to watch. He says he doesn't want to be included if its more of your shitty action ones. You ensure him its a bunch of different ones from different genres. He complains about most of them, calling the animated one stupid, the horror one completely ridiculous and the parody confusing as all fuck. You notice a significant lack in complaining when it came to the chick flick. You think you just figured out the genre he most enjoys.  
  
Oct. 15th  
  
You are returning your rented movies, and decide to pick up a few more romcoms for Karkat. When you get home and inform him of this, he seems  _almost_  excited for it. You tell him you'll watch the movies the next day. He begrudgingly agrees to wait.  
  
Oct. 16th  
  
You come home from school and make up a bunch of popcorn. You start the movie marathon of crappy romcoms with Karkat. You think he loved them, as he won't stop talking about it.  
  
Oct. 17th  
  
He still won't stop talking about the movies.   
  
Oct. 18th  
  
STILL WON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT THE MOVIES. His favorite is that one with Will Smith in it. You have to agree that most movies Will Smith is in is pretty good.  
  
Oct. 21st  
  
You wake up in the morning to Karkat poking your cheek. You flip out a little bit. He makes that "hmm" noise in his throat again, and goes on to cup your face with his hand. You go completely still as he studies your face. He runs his thumb over your cheek, careful of his claws, and you can't help staring into his red eyes as he watches you. He pulls away a moment later and goes to sit in your desk chair. You let out a breath you hadn't realized you were holding. He goes on the rest of the day like that never happened.  
\---------------------------------------  
It is now October 23rd.  
  
Your dad tells you that he has to leave for the weekend, a business trip to the next city over. He'll be back on Monday. So that means you and Karkat have the whole house to yourselves for the weekend. The first thing you do is watch your favorite movies on the big screen in the living room. Hell yes.  
  
You leave your seat on the couch to get some snacks from the kitchen. When you walk in, the fridge door is open and Karkat is rummaging around inside. You quirk a brow, "Karkat? What are you doing?" He looks over his shoulder at you then sighs and closes the door. "All your human food smells gross." He informs you. You tilt your head as he climbs onto the kitchen table. You wish he'd stop doing that.  
  
You walk over to the fridge and peer inside, grab a bottle of water and close it. "I thought demons didn't have to eat?" You ask. "We don't. Doesn't mean I don't want to. Your white squishy things were good enough." You snort, "They're called Marshmellows, dude." He rolls his eyes at you. You hum then walk over to a cabinet. Opening it, you reach in and pull a bag out before closing it again. You set your water down and walk over to Karkat while ripping into the bag. He eyes you suspiciously.   
  
You pull out a multicolored jello string. "Its a gummy worm. Try it!" You say, holding it out to him. He still looks suspicious of you and the offered candy. He grabs the candy worm from your hand with the tips of his claws and brings it up to his face to examine. He desides its probably safe and puts the whole thing in his mouth. It doesn't look like he even chews it, just swallows it whole.  
  
You raise an eyebrow, "So? Is it good?" He shrugs. "I guess. Tasted weird. Like an overly sweet worm when it wiggled down my throat." You make a face, "Aw dude, nasty! You don't have to describe it! Have you seriously eatened worms before?" You say as you place the bag down. He doesn't answer, instead just stares at you. That means he probably has, ew.   
  
That also makes you think that worms might actually taste kind of like gummy worms and ew, gross no. You aren't sure you can eat gummy worms anymore. Karkat just ruined them for you forever.  
  
Karkat grabs the bag and pulls another gummy worm out, studies the different colors then swallows it whole again. He makes a slight face and then repeats the act again. "Karkat, if it tastes weird you don't have to eat it-" You say, reaching for the bag, but he pulls it back. "Whoever said I didn't want to eat them though?" You scrunch your eyebrows together, "But you keep making faces at it!" He rolls his eyes, "I'll eat whatever the fuck I want. Why are you staring at me while I eat anyway, you fucking weirdo?" Your cheeks heat up a bit and you huff before crossing your arms and looking away.  
  
After a few moments you get tired of acting like you're actually upset. You look back at Karkat and he is still eating the gummy worms. "So did you just not eat, like, ever? Back before you came here?" You ask. Karkat swallows another of the gooey candy before answering. "No I ate there, I mean what the fuck, everyone has to fucking eat to survive. But food there and food here is completely different." You hum, an invitation to continue, as you go over to get your bottle of water off of the counter.  
  
"Everything works differently here than it does there. Food There wasn't physical things you swallowed like Here. It was energy and thoughts and emotions. If you defeated some douche, by Demon Rule, you get to Eat them. As in, their energy. They'd waste away after. But it didn't matter, because no one actually ate them like you would Here. There would be countless bodies piled up, all being thrown there by some dumbass or another.  
  
"I'm almost constantly fed Here, by you. Because you're always afraid of me. That's an emotion, therefore something I can Eat. Thanks by the way, Douchenozzle." He punctuates this by swallowing another gummy worm, looking in your direction. You almost spit out your water before you throw a hand over your mouth and grip onto the counter with your other. Karkat simply smirks at you.  
  
Well that's a whole load of crap because you aren't afraid of this asshole anymore!  
  
Okay, maybe a little. Possibly a little more than a little. You don't know. Ugh, its just like, this constant little nagging buzz in the back of your head! It keeps saying "Man those claws would probably rip a lot more than skin" or "Wonder what kind of demage those fangs could cause". Its always there, reminding you that Karkat isn't of this world, doesn't belong on this plane of existence, could probably fuck a lot of shit up. It never goes away. You kind of wonder how much of that is actual fear on your part, or his influence on you.  
  
You feel like its getting better, though. The little nagging buzz doesn't bother you so much anymore, you've pretty much stopped having nightmares. And then of course, you find the idea of some being you don't understand from another plane of existence being here to be exciting. All those movies and books trained your brain into finding this stuff really cool and interesting, so having Karkat here is like living in one of them! You get to learn a whole bunch about this thing no one actually Knows about, and you get to teach Karkat about a bunch of stuff, too. You like finding out what he likes.  
  
You have to wonder if he'll always be around, though. You'd like to get a girlfriend and a career and have a family one day. Will Karkat just follow you on your dates, watch your children be born and grow up with you? What about when you die? Would he die too? Would he go back to where he belongs? Would he just be stuck here forever, wandering around alone?  
  
Its a lot to think about. Might be something you ask Karkat about eventually. You just aren't really sure how you'll go about asking.  
  
You get brought back down to yourself when something lightly smacks against your cheek. You blink a couple of times, look over at Karkat, and catch him winding his arm back with something in his palm. "So you're finally back to earth, dipshit." He stuffs the thing in his hand into his mouth. You look at the ground and find a gummy worm. You roll your eyes, "Whatever Karkat, I was just thinking!"  
  
"What, you mean that rottened sack of dead cells still functions in that little thinkpan of yours? I'm truly impressed Human, you deserve a reward. Guess what it is?" He says, then flips a clawed finger up at you. You burst out laughing. He snorts at you, annoyed. "Oh it looks like the cog wheels got stuck again, you're back to being a dumbass. I'll have to take back the prize. Or you know what? How about this." He lifts his second hand and flips the other finger at you. You cover your mouth to try and suppress the giggling. You fail miserbly.  
  
"I have never met someone so irritating. You think its  _funny_  when I'm being rude as shit. Were you dropped on your head as a wiggler? Just how many of your brain cells are actually alive?" He angrily stuffs another gummy worm into his mouth.  
  
"Dude that was funny! You can't expect me not to laugh when you say stuff like that. And the way you're just sitting on the table, angrily eating gummy worms, it makes it at least ten times funnier." You say through a smile. Karkat grumbles something that kind of sounds like "Stupid fucking weird-ass humans, what the fuck." under his breath. You let out a tiny giggle.  
  
==>  
  
You never go back to the movies. Instead, you deside you'll put up the Halloween decorations around the house. This way, you can put up all the stuff you want, and your dad will probably just shake his head and leave them be; plus your dad won't have to help you put anything up. You know about his back problems, he really doesn't need to be carrying around a bunch of heavy stuff!  
  
You start by getting out the black and orange plastic garland, spend twenty minutes untangling it from itself and others, then hang it up around the fireplace mantel, weave it around the banister for the stairs, and tape it to the moldings around the doors. Hell yes, its looking more spooky already. Karkat sat on the couch mostly, eating his gummy worms and watching you work.  
  
You open the bag of plastic spiders, get some string, and deside to hang them over the door to the kitchen. They hang just below the doorframe, so when you walk in, you won't even notice them. But your dad is a little taller, and it'll probably get caught on his hat or something. Potential for Pranksters Gambit to rise? Yes. Small, but worth it. You save some of the spiders for later. Karkat begins to get a confused scowl on his face as he watches you.  
  
Next, you fetch the picture of your late Grandma when she dressed up for Halloween, and replace the current picture of her on the mantel with the Halloween one. Even Nanna gets to join in the fun, hehe.  
  
You gather up the little ghosts you got, the rest of the spiders, and the bags of fake web, then head outside. Karkat follows behind you. You string all the web through the bushes by the door and throw some spiders in there. Then you take the small step ladder from around the side of the house and place it by the tree. You climb up with the ghosts, and start hanging them from the branches in the tree. You've climbed in this tree so many times, you know it like the back of your hand! You totally haven't fallen out of it since you were like, twelve either. You got this.  
  
Karkat grunts at you from the ground, watching as you tie tiny strings to twigs and toss the little ghosts down to hang freely. You pause for a moment to let Karkat know he has your attention. "What the everloving fuck are you doing?" Is his question. You snort and resume what you were doing. "I told you before, didn't I? We decorate like, the entire house for Halloween! Its a tradition!"  
  
"Just because you tell me that doesn't mean I understand it. Why the fuck go to all the trouble? What does it prove to anyone? You celebrate an out-of-date "holiday", you dress up, you eat like the fat lazy asses you are, then you take it all down and do it again the next year. Its ridiculous, and stupid." He says. You roll your eyes.  
  
"Well if demons never do this kind of thing, it must be pretty boring over there! We have a ton of fun holidays every year! We do them because they are fun and tradition and I won't stop doing them." You tie another knot and throw the ghost down. Karkat huffs and disappears around the other side of the tree. You continue your work.  
  
You move down to a lower branch; start at the top, finish at the bottom, so you don't mess up anything. You're tying a ghost, about to throw it down so it can hang with the rest of them, when a hand presses on your shoulder, pushing you hard and you just fell out of the tree. There went your streak. You flail and squeak, trying to grab something but end up landing on your side, mostly your shoulder and holy shit that hurts!  
  
You hear a laugh from the tree. A short bark of laughter, really. You take a few deep breaths to get some air back into your lungs before you glare up into the tree at Karkat, who looks smugly down at you.  
  
Your shoulder  _really_ hurts now, so you use your other hand to brace on the ground and slowly lift yourself up. If you're lucky, you didn't just break your collarbone or anything. You slowly sit up and try moving your arm experimentally. It hurts pretty bad, aches all the way down that side and into your collarbone, but it doesn't feel like anything is broken. That is going to be very sore tomorrow. Damnit, Karkat.  
  
He plops down in front of you, his smirk never leaving his face. You muster your greatest glare and aim it straight at him. "Karkat, what the hell?" His smirk grows, "That's what we did for fun." That asshole.  
  
"Karkat, you could've seriously hurt me! I almost broke a bone, you dick!" You go to slap at his shoulder, but your hand bounces back almost painfully a couple of inches from him. Your eyebrows shoot up and your eyes dart to Karkat. He gets that confused look on his face again. You go to slap him again, and the same thing happens. Karkat goes "Huh." and you look back to him with a questioning look on your face.  
  
"Remember I can't hurt you? Apparently you can't hurt me either." He says simply. You blink a couple of times then nod kind of dumbly.  
  
You realize that okay, your shoulder is kind of going numb on you and that probably isn't a good sign. You try pressing your fingers into your shoulder a little, to massage it out, but it twinges painfully. You suck in a breath through your teeth and look up at Karkat again, not actually moving your head. He catches your eye anyway, and you can  _tell_  how much he doesn't care that he just hurt you like this.  
  
"Seriously, that was a total dick move, and I don't like you anymore." You think you sound kind of like a child toward the end there, but you don't care. He snorts loudly, "And you thought I cared if you liked me. Oh no, the dipshit that  _unknowingly_  trapped me here with him doesn't like me anymore! Boo-fucking-hoo! How will I ever live with myself." His voice went flat with that last line.  
  
You scrunch up your face in annoyance, "Look, I know I did that by accident! I really don't understand how still, but we just have to deal with it until, until we figure something out! And I thought we started becoming friends. Your dumb chick movies actually weren't so bad after a while. I thought we were becoming movie buddies!" You pause for a breath.  
  
"But you know what, movie buddy license revoked because you just almost broke my collarbone! Friendship license revoked! You're an ass and I don't know why you like being so mean when I'm trying to be nice and friendly to you, trying to make up for the fact that I somehow pulled you away from your home and friends. Excuse me for feeling a little sorry and trying to help you cope with this stuff!" You stop, having run out of air, and suck in a deep breath. You stare hard at Karkat and he looks so  _done,_  but he also looks ready to explode.  
  
"Listen here you little bucktoothed, shitfaced, pathetic excuse for a fucking waste throwing  _monkey,_ " He starts, getting way too close to your face, "I do  _not_  want your fucking pity. I do  _not_  want to be your fucking "friend". You've been just as much as a disgusting bulgemuncher to me as I have been to you! I'm not a fucking pet that you can just play with when you want, and then kick around when you don't and I get in the way!  
  
"Do you have any fucking inkling how embarrassingly idiotic you are every day?! Do you ever stop to think that, yes, I am a fucking demon, but I have gogdamn feelings too and you've never thought about that?! You've never stopped to say "Hey, sorry for completely, unbeknowist to me, trapping you to myself and forcing you to stay anyway because I'm a huge fucking idiot that doesn't know one asslicking shitting thing about anything!"  
  
"Never! Not once! You just keep trying to come up with shit to entertain me with, like you think you  _can_  keep me as a pet! There are very obvious ways to release me from your stupid wigglerfucking self that you haven't bothered to look into! Just, just fucking--" He literally runs out of breath at this point, having to stop and breathe; though it does nothing to calm his rage. You just kind of blink and try to process that long-winded rant he just threw at you.  
  
"Hey!" Someone shouts at you. Your head snaps to the side and you see someone on the sidewalk looking worriedly at you. She grabs her arm with the opposite hand and looks at you kind of shyly then. "Are you okay? You've been staring wide eyed ahead of you for several minutes. Is something the matter?" She has an english accent and wears a baggy green coat. Her green eyes hold a look of worry as she pushes a strand of almost white short hair behind her ear.  
  
You tilt your head a little bit and flounder for something to say. Karkat is fuming beside you, but you try not to pay attention to him. "Uh, uhm." You start. You quickly push the heel of your hand to your forehead and try to focus. You end up getting dirt on your forehead. "Yeah, I'm okay! Uh, I kind of just fell out of the tree and I don't know, spaced out?" You give her a small smile, hoping its reassuring, and hope what you said sounded believable.  
  
She nods a little and shifts her weight from one foot to the other. "I know I'm a complete stranger and all, but would you like help into your house? Oh my, is that too forward-" She nervously pushes hair of out her face again. You shake your head and try to smile wider, "No no! I'm okay! I should go in though, yeah. Thank you!" You say, then begin to get up. She nods again and watches you for a moment longer before heading down the sidewalk. You sigh and frown, desiding you should go in. You can probably finish this later or something. You head inside your house.  
  
You can hear Karkat following behind you, but you're going to continue to ignore him for the time being. You go straight up the stairs and to the bathroom. You don't even bother to close the door as you flip the light on, take your shirt off and look in the mirror. There's a large bruise forming around where you landed the hardest, and several smaller ones down your arm. You wince at the sight and cautiously poke at them; the smaller ones don't hurt too bad, but the bigger one sure does.  
  
You can feel Karkat's presence near you; its near impossible to miss lately. He sits on his haunches just outside of the bathroom. Your face screws up. You deside to get a small rag out, wet it down and start carefully dabbing at the bruises and surrounding areas, and clean the dirt off of your forehead. Karkat stays silent as you do so.  
  
You're much calmer now, having gotten everything out of your system earlier. You absently stare at your reflection with the rag in hand and try to replay his rant in your mind, but with all his yelling and random curses that you aren't even sure  _were_  curses thrown about, its hard to remember it well. You do latch onto one thing he said, though.  
  
"So... There are ways to send you home." You say kind of offhandedly. Karkat grunts in response. You purse your lips, trying to think of anything from your years of watching and reading about the paranormal that might be it. "An...Exorcism?" you question. He snorts, "Fuck no. That'd hurt me and you far worse than--" He makes a sweeping motion in your general direction, "--Any of this bullshit." You frown. "Then what? What else is there? A cleansing?" Karkat rolls his slitted eyes.  
  
"No dipshit. Cleansings only work on buildings. I'm attached to  _you._ " You make a sort of growly whiny noise in your throat, "Then what else is there, smartass!" Karkat growls in response, but otherwise doesn't try to aggress you. "A bond break." You turn toward him, lifting an eyebrow. You deside to sit right there on the bathroom floor in front of him.  
  
"Okay, I've never heard of that before, so explain 'bond break' to me." You say and place an elbow on your knee, resting your head on your hand. Karkat sighs, and you can physically feel the anger still in him leave along with it. "A bond break is when both parties-You, and I-agree we no longer want to be connected. The problem is, we need another demon for the bond to actually be severed. They're sort of like a mediator, and by their word, the bond breaks. Then I could go home, and you could continue to be a dumbass on your own."  
  
You were kind of surprised how he managed to explain it calmly and without a bunch of add-on cursing, but you quickly went back to unimpressed by the end. He just always has to throw that in there.  
  
Other that that, you do understand. But how are you going to find another demon willing to help you two?  
  
You refuse to give up hope so easily though. "That sounds easy enough, I guess. We just have to find another demon!" You say. Karkat lets out another sigh, drawing it out far longer than needed.  
  
"Listen grubfucker, finding another demon in  _this_  place- This plane, is going to be gogdamn near impossible. We can't see each other just whenever, we hide ourselves from other demons so we don't end up in some kind of stupid fight here, because we're all extremely violent toward each other. The only way we'll find one is if they show themselves willingly. And as you can probably fucking guess, that doesn't happen too often. Therein lies our problem. Its a bulgefucking waiting game." You nod slowly. More weird demon stuff, you guess.  
  
So its a waiting game, until another demon shows itself. But even if one does, how willing would they be to actually help you? You have no idea. You just have to hope, you guess!  
  
But since its a waiting game, you have to continue living with Karkat until then. You don't really want to, but you think you should try to smooth things out with him. It'd suck if you were just at each others throats all the time for how ever long this'll take. Or completely ignoring each other for no reason.  
  
You wait a moment and watch Karkat as he idly looks down the hallway and scratches behind an ear. You chew on your bottom lip for a second, "Listen Karkat, I am sorry about all this. I don't think its really my fault that you got stuck here, but I have been kind of a douche. I'm willing to give you back the movie buddy license if you're interested." Karkat gives you an annoyed stare. "C'mon, I got some new romcoms! I'm willing to watch them with you!" His eyebrows scrunch together for a moment, but he releases it in a sigh and nods. "Alright, fine." You smile widely back.  
  
You then proceed to have the longest, and according to Karkat silently, best RomCom movie marathon ever. You end up looking up several movies online on your laptop. It runs all night until you pass out. And even then, you think Karkat continued to watch more.  
  
====>  
  
It is now Friday, the 30th, one night before Halloween.  
  
Goddamn are you excited!  
  
Last weekend, you finished up the halloween decorations with a more-than-slightly injured shoulder. As you predicted, when your dad came home he just shook his head and grinned, said he was proud of you for setting it all up by yourself, and then proceeded to take a long nap in his room. You assumed he was pretty tired from his trip!  
  
You ask Dave and Rose and Jade about Halloween plans on Monday, and they said they were pretty free. You invited them over to your place for a small costume plus pizza party, and they agreed eagerly. Around Wednesday, you and your dad (plus Karkat) went and got pumpkins. You carved them that night, as you do every year. Anytime your dad wasn't in the room, Karkat tried to eat the pumpkin guts. You only threw up a little.  
  
Yesterday you finished the Ghost Buster machine prop you had been working on, and today you got the patches you ordered! You looked long and hard to find some Ghost Busters patches you could sew on your costume. You lucked out and found these, so today you're going to sew them on your jumper and your costume will be complete! The others will be so jealous.  
  
Karkat watches you as you rip into the package, rush out of the room, go downstairs and into your dad's study, where you ask for gray thread and a needle. You come back with that, and push everything on your desk off to the side before grabbing your unfinished costume and slam it onto your desk. He looks utterly confused at you as you say, "Okay Karkat, I'm going to be busy for a while and I need all the concentration I can get! So don't bother me until I'm done, alright?"  
  
He nods, but does kind of hover over your shoulder for a bit. You try to ignore his presence altogether as you sew the patches on. He eventually gets tired of watching you and wanders off to do...whatever it is demons do in their spare time. You still aren't sure what he does when he kind of just disappears for a while, but you don't think you really care.  
  
Some time later, but not much, you finish putting the patches on your costume and hold it up to look at. Its pretty cool, you think! Your best homemade costume yet. Asking your dad to teach you how to sew was totally worth it in the end. Its one afternoon and evening you'll never get back, but its worth it.  
  
You set the jumper back on top of your dresser, pull out the boots you bought for it from your closet, and set the prop down next to your dresser. You're going to wear this all day tomorrow!  
  
You take the thread and needle and head back downstairs. Your dad is in the kitchen and there's a distinct smell of baked goods. Oh crap, he really IS baking those cupcakes he talked about. If he catches sight of you, he's probably going to ask you to help him ice them or something. You'd rather not.   
  
You sneak past the kitchen door into his study and set the thread on his desk. You peek out of the doorway and still hear him messing around in the kitchen, so you tiptoe past the door. You stub your toe.  
  
You let out a "Ow, fuck-" and look for the offending object, when you find the couch in the COMPLETELY WRONG SPOT. Its blocking the way to the stairs, when it was just against the wall! You know it was when you passed it the first time! Your dad calls out, "John? Are you alright?" from the kitchen. You curse under your breath and start to panic a little bit. "Uh, yeah dad! I just stubbed my toe!" You say. Its quiet for a moment until your dad says, "Please watch your language the next time you injure yourself." You roll your eyes and reply with a "Yeah," before looking back to the couch.  
  
This is honestly impressive. In the short few seconds you were in the study, the couch was pushed over here and with no sound. Someone's Pranksters Gambit has risen, but you aren't sure whos. You are a little surprised that you only stubbed your toe on it and didn't fall on the couch or flip  _over_  it or some other ridiculous thing.  
  
You quirk a hip and place your hands on both as you look at the couch. You aren't sure how you'll get this back against the wall without making a bunch of noise or injuring yourself further. You aren't sure your shoulder can handle this kind of thing, either. How would you explain this to your dad?  
  
You hear a snicker from above you. You look up and Karkat is looking down at you from the top of the stairs.  You let out a little growly noise and scrunch up your face. "C'mon Karkat, I thought we were cool!" You say, trying to keep your voice down. Karkat quirks a lip up, "What is it your human wigglers say to get candy? "Trick or treat"? Here's your Trick, assmuncher." You scowl and deside to flip him the bird. He snorts before hopping down the stairs and then over the couch.  
  
You roll your eyes heavily, "Can you please put it back? My shoulder, that you injured, still hurts." Karkat raises an eyebrow, "Oh boohoo, do it yourself Nookwhiffer. Don't try to guilt trip me, because it isn't going to fucking work." You want to try arguing with him more, but you think you have another idea.  
  
You push your bottom lip out before going "Pleeease, Karkat? It really huuurts. I'll get you a cupcake in exchange." In a little voice that used to work on your dad all the time. Karkat's eyes widen the slightest bit and he turns away from you. It takes all of two seconds before he turns back to you saying, "Alright, fine. I want that fucking sugar thing your human lusus is making." You tilt your head a little bit at his choice of words. Meh, he says a lot of weird stuff! Its probably just more weird demon things.  
  
He goes over to the couch and slides his clawed hands under it, lifts the whole thing a couple of inches off the ground (Your eyes go HUGE. Man he is strong!), and sets it back against the wall right about where it was originally. You applaud him quietly and your lips go into a smile. Karkat quirks the one lip again, "The promised sugar food, buttmonkey." You scoff a little, not quite getting rid of your smile. "I'm going, I'm going, sheesh."  
  
Welp, no avoiding your dad now. You stall for just a second before getting your legs to work and walking into the kitchen. What you find in there...isn't all that much of a surprise, to be honest. You thought it'd be worse, actually. Cupcakes cover the kitchen table in a single layer and your dad stands by the oven with pot holder in hand. On hand. Whatever. You give your dad a smile and he returns it. "Good evening, son. How's that toe?" He says.  
  
You snort a little, "Its fine, dad. I got the patches for my costume sewed on! Its now officially complete." You say rather proudly. Your dad nods then gestures to the cupcakes, "I'm on the last batch for the night. I thought I might hand out cupcakes to the Trick-or-Treaters." You nod and nonchalantly gank a cupcake from the table as your dad turns back toward the oven. Karkat slinks into the kitchen, takes the cupcake from your hand and disappears with it. You press your lips together to keep from laughing.  
  
You turn back to your dad and do something you never really thought you'd do. "Do you need help frosting the rest of these?" You ask. There, you've done it, the unspeakable act of offering to frost baked goods. You feel very conflicted about this turn of events. Your dad, however, just shakes his head and laughs softly to himself. "No need, son. Its just this last batch, I can do it myself. Thank you for the offer, I'm very proud of you." You resist the urge to both roll your eyes and sigh in relief.   
  
Instead you just nod and abscond from the kitchen. You hop up the stairs two at a time and rush back into your bedroom. You let out a sigh and notice Karkat is not in the room. At least not that you can see. You think about doing something to entertain yourself while Karkat isn't around, when you hear a soft ping from your sleeping desktop.  
  
You walk over to it and sit in your swivel chair. Your desktop is awake and waiting for you, the Pesterchum app idly flashing on your taskbar. You click it open and see you've gotten a message from Rose.  
  
\-- tentacleTherapist (TT) began pestering ectoBiologist (EB) at 15:32 --  
  
TT: Hello John.  
TT: I am contacting you now to inquire about details pertaining to your party tomorrow night.  
TT: Are you there, John?  
TT: I will assume that you are, infact, not at your computer at the moment, but left it signed into Pesterchum anyway. What have we talked about, John? It gives your friends false hope in being able to chat with you. I am very disappointed.  
TT: As much as I would like to sit here waiting on a silly boy to return to his computer, I still have things to do. Get back to me when you return, please.  
\-- tentacleTherapist (TT) is now an idle chum! --  
  
Ah crap, you forgot to log out again! Rose will surely have a list of choice words you won't fully understand to say to you later. For now though, you should reply to her.   
  
EB: oh, sorry about that rose! i was just finishing up my costume.  
EB: what was it you wanted to ask me?  
  
You sit back in your chair and deside to wait. Surely Rose wouldn't be too far from the computer, right? You deside to spin around in your desk chair until you get dizzy, which doesn't take long. A moment later your desktop pings again and you pull yourself closer to the desk, the words on the screen slightly blurred from your dizzyspell.  
  
TT: I wanted to know when we should show up, and what activities you have planned for the night.  
  
Activities? Well you didn't give it much thought, honestly! You kind of just figured they'd get here and then you would all goof around or something. You place your elbow on your desk and your head in your hand as you think about what you could do.  
  
EB: well get here about 6! thats when the trick-or-treaters start going out, isnt it?  
TT: Right around that, yes. Alright.  
EB: and for stuff to do...  
EB: we could watch horror movies and eat candy and popcorn! my dad is going to order pizza, and then we could play video games or something.  
TT: Sounds splendid. I will be sure to tell Dave and Jade.  
EB: ok! sounds good to me!  
  
You chat with Rose a while longer before she says she has to go. You tried to get her to tell you what her costume is, but she just replied with "Its a surprise" and refused to say anymore on it. Bluh! You'll see it tomorrow, you don't get why she has to get all secret-y on you. Maybe its just something that's  _really_  cool and she doesn't want to spoil it.  
  
You spend the rest of night being really excited and not really sleeping like you should be. Karkat rarely appears in your room during this time, and he only grunts in response to you. He's acting kind of weird too, but really what do you know about Karkat? You've lived with him for a month and so far, all you've seen of him is Annoyed, Angry and Sugar hungry. There was the couple of instances when he was super smug when he pranked you, but those were really it.   
  
Maybe eventually he'll open up to you! You mean, how long can he hide all of himself from you when you two are stuck together for who knows how long, right?  
  
====>  
  
Today is Saturday so that means no school! You take full advantage of this and sleep in until eleven thirty, which is when your dad comes in and wakes you up. You roll around in bed, bunching up your covers and eventually throwing them in the floor, for a few minutes before you decide to get up.  
  
You put on your glasses and sit up in bed, look around your room. Karkat isn't in here. You really wonder what he's getting up to! He wasn't around half the day yesterday and practically none last night. Who knows, its probably more weird demon stuff.   
  
You get up out of bed and walk over to your desk chair, flopping into it and turning on your desktop. Jade is on Pesterchum you notice, and just a moment after it finishes loading she's shooting you a message.  
  
\-- gardenGnostic (GG) began pestering ectoBiologist (EB) at 11:42 --  
  
GG: HAPPY HALLOWEEN JOHN!!!!! :D  
  
You roll your eyes and smile widely, getting your fingers working to reply.  
  
EB: happy halloween to you too, jade! :B  
GG: i'm super excited to come over today!!! my costume is the best john  
GG: the best!!!  
EB: no way! mine is the BESTEST EVER. you will be so impressed by my costume that you might just fall over in amazement.  
EB: which would be completely understandable because it is so awesome.  
GG: bullcrap!! ive worked so hard on mine, you have NO IDEA john, none  
EB: but so have i!  
EB: jade, i had to sit through an afternoon with my dad to learn how to sew. 6 hours i will never get back. that by default, makes mine way better.  
GG: touche mister egbert, but i had to learn from my grandpa!  
GG: you know how intense he is, it took AT LEAST twice as long to get him to actually teach me anything!!!  
GG: i ended up having to ask rose to teach me because i kept messing up  
GG: so by that standard, i win!! mine will be a million times better!!!!  
EB: wow, ok. i guess you win this time, ms harley! i'll best you next year, just you wait.  
GG: as if!! haha  
  
You smile a goofy smile at your screen before you hear your dad call "Son, lunch is ready!" from downstairs. You shout back "Okay!" and turn to your screen.  
  
EB: ok i have to go, i'll see you tonight!  
GG: alright! bye john!!!  
  
\-- gardenGnostic (GG) ceased pestering ectoBiologist (EB) at 12:04 --  
  
You get up and head out of your room, go downstairs and go into the kitchen. Dad made turkey sandwiches with carrot sticks. He's been giving you this same thing since you were a kid! You can't bring yourself to complain about not having much variety in your lunches, though. You know he's just trying to look out for you.  
  
You sit down and start into your lunch as your dad does the same. You don't see Karkat anywhere in here, and you don't remember seeing him in the living room. Just where is that demon hiding? Your dad starts up the small talk, so you distract yourself with that. You'll admit, its kind of nice just getting to talk like one person to another with your dad sometimes. He used to baby talk you when you were a kid, but now you talk like normal people on the same ground. Its nice.  
  
He asks about details for the party, so you tell him what you planned. He agrees with most of it, only warning you not to eat too much of the candy; got to have some for the trick-or-treaters! He tells you he plans on sitting on the porch in a scarecrow costume to scare people when they come up to get the candy. He does that every year. It never gets old; The Egbert house is one of traditions.  
  
After lunch, your dad tells you he's going to take a short nap so he'll have plenty of energy for tonight. You tell him you'll be quiet so he can sleep peacefully. After he goes up stairs to his room, you decide to look for that sneaky little demon!  
  
You start by looking around in the living room again to see if you missed him. You didn't. You head upstairs and check the bathroom; not in there either. You go to your bedroom and look around; under your bed, behind stuff, nothing. You decide to look in the closet. Welp, bingo.  
  
Karkat has made himself a what you can only guess is a nest in the back of your closet. All the clothes you had hanging on a hanger are down there, and now you can see that your covers and pillow are, too! Karkat lays on top of it all, all curled up in a cute little ball like a cat. Wow, you really need to reavaluate your sanity; you're thinking that the demon that lives with you is like a pet cat.  
  
You mean, he's KIND OF like one, actually. But then he's not at all. Its a really weird mix that you are beginning to think you should probably never really think about again.  
  
Karkat catches your gaze and winds in further on himself. He's practically hiding completely under all of it by now. You let a frown overtake your lips for the moment and bend down, gently pulling at the clothing surrounding the Demon. Karkat lets out a small growl and continues to shuffle in further. You huff and stand up, telling him, "Oh fine mister grumpy pants, stay in your weird pile of my clothing. Sheesh. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
  
You turn around and march over to your bed, decidedly leaving the closet door open for him. Now you're sure something is wrong with him, but he's determined to keep it all to himself. He'll come to you eventually or he'll get over whatever it is soon enough. You hope.  
  
You spend the next couple of hours laying in bed with your phone in hand. At around four, you decide to get up and get dressed in your costume, which doesn't take long at all. You then spend twenty-five minutes setting your phone on timers and posing for pictures in your super awesome costume. You're going to post all the good ones online for your friends! Karkat doesn't make a sound the entire time.  
  
You then take your phone and go downstairs, where you find your dad setting stuff up around the front door. He asks you to help him set things up, so you do. You help him bring all the cupcakes from the kitchen to the side of the door, get a big bowl your dad normally only uses for big batches and fill it with a ton of candy you didn't know he bought, and help him set up the stray straw bits he got to help blend in the theme. Hell fucking yes.  
  
Its after five by the time you guys get done, so you have to hurry to set up for your party! You go back to your room and pick out a bunch of horror films while your dad goes to his room to get changed. When you come back down, your dad asks you to help him stick straw into his sleeves. You set the DVD's down on the coffee table and help him put the straw in. A few minutes later, you're done, and your dad looks awesome.  
  
Its maybe fifteen minutes until six, when your friends arrive and the trick-or-treaters come out in full force. You make sure your costume is still awesome and that everything is in place. You go into the kitchen and get out bowls and packs of popcorn lined up on the counter, and get out the two-liters of soda and set them on the counter with the popcorn. Whew. You decide to grab a glass of water when you hear your phone go off in the living room.  
  
You turn around to head back to the living room when a small Karkat figure sits in your way. You tilt your head a little and smile at Karkat, "Hey Karkat!" You say. He grumbles a hi at you then glares up at you from the floor. You let a puzzled look overtake your features as you set the glass on the table. "What's up, buddy?" You ask. "What are you doing?" He asks you.  
  
"Oh! I'm setting up for my party! My friends are gonna get here soon and then we're gonna watch movies and play games and stuff." Karkat looks comtemplative for a moment before asking, "What genre of movie?" You smile again, "Horror of course! It is Halloween, dude. Spooks everywhere." His face scrunches up before he hops on the table. You roll your eyes.   
  
"I really wish you'd stop doing that. We eat at the table! Bad demons need to stay off of it." He gives you this look of nonplussed anger before looking down at your glass of water. You raise an eyebrow. "Karkat. Get off the table." You say and cross your arms. He narrows his eyes at you before moving a clawed finger to the side of your glass and bending it back, almost like he's gonna...  
  
"Karkat. Don't you dare knock over that glass."  
  
Tink. Splatter. Roll. Karkat jumps off of the table and leaves the room.  
  
He really just did that.  
  
==>   
  
A short time and one toweling later, your dad is telling you that some of your friends have arrived. You rush to the door as two of them come through, one of them closing the door behind them. You quickly find that its Rose and Jade, in their... admittedly pretty awesome costumes, but you aren't really sure what they're supposed to be. "Hey guys!" You greet. "Hi John! Oh my god your costume does look pretty cool!" Jade says. Rose nods in greeting and looks you up and down.  
  
"Well, its better than last years costume, at least." She says. You scoff, "Oh come on, last years costume was pretty sweet!" You reply. Jade rolls her done up eyes, "John, you were in a dirty wife beater with raggy gross hair! I swear you got that wig out of the garbage!" You stick your tongue out at Jade, "I did not! And whatever, what are you two supposed to be?" You say. Rose smiles gently and looks over at Jade.  
  
Jade is wearing a torn white wedding gown that opens somewhat toward the bottom in the front and a large neckline open toward the top, holding a dead brouquet of flowers in a hand with a veil headpiece on top. Her makeup is done sickly faded blue all over her face, neck and arms, with light pink lips and dark blush to make her cheeks look sunken in. Her eyes are surrounded in dark blue. She kind of looks like a zombie in your opinion. "I'm the Corpse Bride, silly! Rose is Victor! You know, like from the movie Corpse Bride?" She says.  
  
You look to Rose and find she's wearing a black suit with a weird tie and striped black slacks. Her hair, though still blonde, is parted down the middle with her bangs hanging on one side, the other is pushed back into the rest of it. No headband is to be seen. Her eyes are surrounded in black to make them look sunken. She nods at you and looks rather happy with herself.  
  
"Wow, that is pretty cool! It must've took you guys so long to get dressed and to paint Jade!" You exclaim. Jade nods, "Hell yeah it did! Ugh trying to do it accurately takes sooooo much work, John." You wave her off and go over to the couch, "I know! It took me forever to make this costume, Jade. From scratch! Its hard." "Its hard and no one understands." Jade agrees as she joins you on the couch. She sets her dead flowers on the table as Rose comes over and sits on the other side of Jade.  
  
"So where's Dave?" You ask the girls. Both of them shake their heads, "Strider did not contact us nor did he ride with us here. We are not sure where he is at the moment." Rose replies. You nod, "Well phooey with him, then. He wants to be late then that's his problem! I say we don't wait on him." Jade readily agrees while Rose simply sighs.  
  
"So what movie are we watching first, guys?" You ask. Jade goes, "Corpse Bride! Hehehe." Rose suggests The cabin in the woods. You suggest The Conjuring. None of you have seen that one, yet, so you all agree on that. You get up and find the DVD case from the stack you brought down and go over to the player hooked up to the TV. As you put the movie in, your dad calls through the door, "Mr. Strider is here, son!" So you go over to the door as Dave is let in.  
  
You raise an eyebrow and he does the same. Dave is wearing a head-to-toe skeleton costume; black with white bones on it, a bleeding heart shape on the left side of his chest and fake blood splattered here and there. His face is painted like a skeletons but he still wears the sunglasses. His blonde hair has red at most of the tips. "Nice costume, bro." He says. "Same to you." You say. You crack a smile after a second or two and his features visibly relax. He goes over to the couch and takes your original seat next to Jade.  
  
You huff and decide to sit on the arm of the couch by Rose, pick up the remote, and start the movie.  
  
Around ten minutes in you see movement from the side of your eye. You try to look over carefully so as not to alarm your friends. You see Karkat sitting behind the couch. You pinch your lips together and return your attention to the movie. Just as the first jumpscare rolls around, Jade jumps considerably more than the rest of you and slaps a hand to the back of her neck before looking around behind her. Rose asks her what's wrong, and she says "It felt like something poked my neck!" You look behind the couch and Karkat is crouching down around the same area. You narrow your eyes at him before replying, "You probably just imagined it, Jade. Scary movies always got you more than anyone!"  
  
Jade huffs but returns to the movie, as do the rest of you. A little while later and you've moved from the arm of the couch to against Dave's legs. Its just a little less awkward to lean against your bros legs then it is against one of your friends who happen to be a girl! That's what you reason. Dave doesn't seem to mind.  
  
At the next jumpscare, Rose lets out a yelp. You all look to her and she's got a hand over the back of her head. She looks worried for a moment before calming. "Its nothing." She says. You can kind of guess what happened. Everyone warily returns to the movie.  
  
Its getting close to the end of the movie and a huge jumpscare comes, making everyone jump. Jade starts giggling to herself when  _Wham!_  Dave kicks you in the side. You yelp and jump away from him, putting a hand over your side and looking at Dave incredulously. He looks almost frantic when he looks around the room and betweeen each of you around him. "Something grabbed  _both_  of my shoulders." He informs you.  
  
You shake your head and oh look the end of the movie. Well. You pause it as it rolls the credits and look at everyone, who all look kind of spooked. You purse your lips for a moment before going, "I'll be right back guys. Try not to have a heart attack without me!" You get up and go into the kitchen. You guys never did pop any of the popcorn or even get into the soda. You dig through a cabinet until you find what you were looking for.   
  
You return to the living room with four plastic bags saying, "We're gonna go trick-or-treating!" Everyone kind of just agrees with you and accepts their bag before they follow behind you. You lead them out telling your dad, "We're gonna do some quick Trick-or-treating, we'll be back!" He nods at you and you continue your way down the sidewalk.  
  
You four hit up every house that's handing out candy on your street, then you go over a block and stop at those houses. It doesn't take long for your group to be shoving each other and laughing at stupid things someone said, like usual. When you get a compliment on your costume, you feel pretty good and tell them proudly that you made it yourself! Dave gets one on his costume at some point, but he replies "Thanks. Its storebought." and you and the girls rag on him for not making his own like the rest of you did.  
  
He replies with "Hey, I could've just worn a T-shirt that says 'I fought in the Skeleton War, two-K-fifteen', but Bro said that was lame." You shake your head in shame of your very lame friend. He flips you off. You bump your shoulder into his. It turns into a contest to see who can knock who into the street. It stops when one of you bump into Jade and she sternly glares at you both.  
  
You return to your house a while later with bags around half-way full of candy. Its another hour or so before your friends have to leave, so you suggest Super Smash Bros. Jade agrees readily, Dave says he's going to kick your butt, Rose gives you that little smile with the glint in her eye that says someone is going to get owned tonight. You really like your friends sometimes.  
  
"Jade Jade Jade Jade Jade-" You chant, punching her over and over again with Captain Falcon. Jade growls loudly as she does a sudden little breakdance move with Sheik, kicking your character back. Rose is on the other side of the stadium, repeatedly sucking Dave's Yoshi in with her Kirby before he either breaks out or she pops him out. You can't see him, but you know Dave is losing his cool. The number one way to annoy a Strider is to stall them heavily with what he coins "a small pink douchebag".   
  
The game is won by you and Rose when both Dave and Jade ran out of lives. Dave curses silently while Jade curses loudly. Right as your dad comes in the door. He raises an eyebrow at Jade, but doesn't say anything. She apologizes for cursing and you snort.   
  
He says its time for them to go home and that he'll drive them. You all say your goodbyes and you give Rose a fistbump that she smugly returns before they head out of the door. You check the clock. Its about eleven-thirty-nine at that point.  
  
You go into the kitchen and put the bowls, popcorn and soda up. Then you go into the living room and carry as much as you can in your arms up to your room. You come back down for the consoles then head back up.  
  
You start taking your costume off; you get to the jumpsuit being half way off, when you're suddenly knocked over onto the ground by a body. You let out a little shriek as you go down, landing heavily on your once injured shoulder, again. You look up to find Karkat standing over you with slit-like red eyes staring you down. You get as far as "What-" before things go black for you. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fucking evil muahahahah
> 
> I honestly didn't think I'd get this done in time ; w ; First some family moved in, then I got sick, then after I got over it I was writing, but I got sick again...I'm still getting over that second one. I stayed up so late for the past several nights to make sure I got this done, and I am so proud I finally did it!
> 
> This chapter alone is 31 pages, over 10000 words. I really wanted to post a super long chapter, and I have done it. Yes.
> 
> Pesterlogs have been formatted! Happy Halloween!
> 
> Also you know that scene where Karkat pushed the couch in front of the stairs? http://spookystriderkin.tumblr.com/post/131674049327/what-even-is-this-lmao-john-bro-its-just-a-couch I drew it :3   
> I track a tag I made for the au: WGBITNau so if there's anything you want me to see for this au, tag it with that!


	5. Chapter 5

Its warm. A slight warmth radiating near your body, getting hotter and more potent the higher up your body it goes. It pools around your face, against your cheeks and your lips. Your eyes are closed. You can't tell what all this heat is from, but you find yourself getting drawn into it. The rest of your body feels cold, you want to be warm. You move closer to the heat source, at least you think you do. Everything seems too fuzzy to focus on, all you know is this wet heat settled high.

Something warm slides across your side; it almost feels like its burning against your skin. Just why are you so cold? What is this heat pin pricking across your body? Why is everything so dark?

Your eyes snap open. drowsy, mostly closed eyes with red leaking out under the eyelashes sits but an inch away from your eyes. Lips are pressed against yours. There's a clawed hand on your cheek and another on your bare side.

Karkat is kissing you.

What the fuck.

You don't start moving until Karkat begins moving his other hand to your stomach. By this, you startle with a yelp and throw yourself back away from the Demon, injured shoulder stuttering in pain whenever you move the arm. Your heart races and your breaths come out shaky and fast. Karkat just KISSED you! The demon that's done nothing but antagonize you since he got here just kissed YOU.

Karkat lets out an angry, deep growl and slinks closer to you. You scramble back and hold your hands up in front of you to keep him back. He's deterred by this, but only briefly. You swallow down a groan of pain that's threatening to escape you; He really messed up your shoulder. "K-Karkat! What the hell?" Karkat lets out a low hiss and stops moving.

"...I'm fucking starving over here, idiot. I need to feed." Your mind jumps around a bit, trying to find something to say and piece this together. Honestly, you're still a bit dazed. Is it normal to feel like this when you kiss someone? You wouldn't know, you've never done it!

"How does you being hungry translate to you kissing me?!" You spit out. Karkat breathes in deeply through his nose before returning a slightly more calm stare into your direction. "We don't feed on only emotions, we can feed off of physical contact."

"...And??" You go, impatient and wanting a better explanation. Karkat sighs and runs a hand through his matted mess of hair. "You're not afraid of me anymore. I need to Feed or I'll die." You aren't sure what your face does for a moment, but you guess its something comical, because Karkat snorts.

You shake your head furiously, repeating no no no no no no over and over. Karkat bares his fangs at you and hisses through his teeth, making you halt. His eyes glow red, the cat like pupils growing in size. 

You don't know what happens after that. You wake up the next morning in your bed.

 

You don't really remember much of that night.

 

Okay, today is a sunday and you have to help your dad clean up all the decorations and- you get up and OW wow uh your shoulder is really hurting now. You should probably actually tell your dad about this, because its really painful and you've fallen on it so many times lately, you wouldn't doubt that its broken or something.

You take in a deep breath, place your hand on the injured shoulder and walk out of your room. "Dad?" You call into the house. You don't know what time it is, but it shouldn't matter either way; your dad has the day off. 

Man, you suddenly feel kinda guilty about going to tell him you jacked up your shoulder and probably need to go to the hospital, because its his day off and you're supposed to rest on days off, not spend them in a waiting room.

You walk down the stairs and call for him again. He goes "I'm in the study, son." from the study, obviously. You walk around the corner and peek at him to see him messing with something on his desk. He's still in PJs. Ugh, you're going to feel like crap telling him this.

"Uh, hi dad! So, uh. I've kind of messed up my shoulder and it really hurts and I think I need to go to the hospital because I can barely move my arm." Well, you got it out.

Your dad stops before jumping up and moving to you, "Your right shoulder?" He asks and you nod. He goes to touch your shoulder and you let him. That itself doesn't hurt, but then he starts trying to move your arm and you hiss in pain.

"Yes, well I think its definitely pretty bad. I'll go get dressed and we'll head to the hospital." You nod again, and follow him out of the study. He heads upstairs and you see Karkat sitting on the couch.

You huff and go "Well I hope you're proud. You probably broke my shoulder, you douche. I have to go to the hospital now."

Karkat just kind of sits there. "Is that jumble of words supposed to mean anything to me or?" You huff indignantly and skulk up the stairs.

You go to your bedroom, use your one good arm to pull a pair of pants out of your dresser and start shimmying out of your costume. You were wearing a light t-shirt under the suit so you'll just keep that on. You stick a leg in, almost fall over trying to get the other leg in, and. Uh. How are you supposed to get your pants up with one arm?

You think, well its only to pull them up, so... You use your other hand and try to pull them up, and it works so far until about your thighs, then it goes Nope fuck you and you groan in pain. 

Okay, chill out, you just gotta shimmy them up the rest of the way. How are you going to fasten it? You don't know but you'll figure it out.

Two minutes of shimmying later, and you now have pants over your ass. Not buttoned, but they're up at least. You're still wearing socks, (Thank god. That would've been a real pain in the ass.) so you go downstairs to slip on your shoes. Your dad comes down a minute later while you're jamming a foot into a shoe, where he goes over and helps you slip the shoe on.

Its kind of really embarrassing to have him zipping up your fly for you like when you were a kid, but. Circumstances. You're going to just forget this and move on.

You both head out to the car, and wowie! Would you look at that! Karkat is somehow in the car. What the fuck. 

You want to, you don't know, punch him in the face or something?? But you're not going to. You get into the passengers seat, your dad helps you buckle in and shut your door and you ignore Karkat for the whole ride to the hospital.

====>

After all the hooplah, yadda yadda can't get a cast but its in a sling, damnit, not allowed to use your arm for six weeks because it actually /did/ fracture in a spot and pulled a major muscle, lollipop and off you go, here you are back at home. Karkat thought he'd be funny and steal all the candy off the nurse's desk while you were signing in, but you kicked him in the leg and that set him in a bad mood for a while. At least him sitting and being a moody asshole is easier to deal with then him trying to cause trouble.

God, its like raising a kid. 

You log on to Pesterchum and decide to chat with your friends. You tell them how you fractured a bone in your shoulder and how you're gonna have to wear a sling for six weeks. Jade goes oh no!!! :c Rose shows sympathy for you and Dave commends you on fucking up on such a high level. like come on dude you broke your own shoulder by falling out of trees and shit that deserves an award

They all agree they're going to help you as much as they can, though. You're going to feel like a huge burden to your dad because he's gonna have to take up helping you with a lot of shit for a while. And you have school again tomorrow. Yay.

====>

Karkat never once apologizes for breaking your shoulder.

Its about three weeks later, though, when you don't feel like you have to take the pain medication anymore, and Karkat hasn't done his best to be an ass. In fact, you and him are watching a movie together in your room on your laptop. You honestly can't stay mad at him for very long. This fact doesn't make much sense to you, considering.

You're laying on the foot of your bed, upside down while your laptop is in the floor with karkat sitting beside you. He's entirely engrossed in the movie. You don't even know what this one is; something Karkat picked.

You get a hand slapped on your face.

"Ow! Hey!" You jump, and Karkat lays his hand down.

"Pay attention, monkeyshit."

"What! I was! Sheesh." You stick your tongue out at him.

"I will rip that disgusting muscle out of your blathering shithole if you don't get it out of my face, piss for brains."

The tongue goes back in.

====>

You wake up slowly and turn to lay on your back. Man you are so tired. Karkat's been wanting to watch movies every night this week, and has started watching some show he found on your laptop while you're at school. Of course, this keeps you up more at night! But he's actually been pretty chill lately. You're glad he's found something to calm his sugar-happy mean butt down.

"Karkaaaat." You call groggily. No sound. "Kaaarkaaaat!"

A grumble comes from your closet as the door is slowly opened and Karkat peeks out. "What the fuck do you want so damn early in the morning? Seriously this is fucking ungodly, who ever thought this would be a good idea? Wake up at the asscrack of d-" "Oh my god Karkat it is like six A.M. please stop."

A growl from the closet. "What the fuck do you want." "Can you get my glasses please?"

"Seriously? This is what you woke me up for?" he deadpans and opens the door more. "Come on, I left them on the desk and I can't see anything without them. I'll probably trip and break something else if I try to get up without them. Please?" Karkat crosses his arms.

"Come ooooonnn. I'll stop at the dollar store on the way home and buy you something!" You look over to the blob that is Karkat standing in your closet. A moment of silence, before a sigh and a "Buy the biggest bag of marshmallows they have." You grin, "Okay!"

Karkat takes a moment to rub sleep out of his eyes before he slinks over to your desk, fumbles around the top until he catches his fingers on the glasses, then brings them to you. "I swear to god, if it is not the BIGGEST bag they have-" You swat at him and nearly smack him in the face. "Oh shoosh, you know I'm good on my deals. Thank you." He hands you the glasses and you put them on. He stalks back into the closet and closes the door, where you hear him flop onto your clothes.

Bribery with sweets is the only way you can get Karkat to do anything you want. You almost convinced him to help you in your magic act plan a couple of days ago by offering to buy him whatever candy he wants when he wanted. You're sure he'll come around on that eventually!

A pause. "Hey, I thought demons didn't have to sleep!" "We don't. Doesn't mean I don't want to."

You sigh before getting up carefully. Your shoulder and arm are doing a lot better already, but you're really trying not to move it at all. No bumping it into anything or nothing. You get on with your morning routine before you head to school.

As you file into school along with all the other students, something out of the corner of your eye catches your attention. You whip your head around to look at it. What you see is pointed yellow fading to red horns, disappearing into black hair that flips out all around the head, gray skin...A scalene tail trailing behind. Its gone within the crowd before you can react.

====>

You spend the day slightly weirded out, not really sure what to make of what you saw that morning. On one hand, it could be nothing? You might've imagined it. But like last time you tried to tell yourself it was just your imagination, it ended up not being. And you have a demon living in your closet because of it. You decide not to rule out any possibilities.

You bump hard into the corner of a wall as you're turning, not paying attention at all. Of course it was your banged up arm that hit it. You hiss at the pain as it starts an ache going up into your shoulder. You don't think you fucked it up again, it shouldn't be so easy to mess up after a few weeks and your extra-carefulness, but its still worrying that its aching.

"Yo dude. What happened?" Sounds from your side. Dave stands there, an eyebrow over dark shades. 

You rub between your eyes with your good hand, irritated at yourself for not paying attention. "I ran my arm into the wall because I wasn't watching, and now its aching again."

"Yeah that's probably not good. Wanna go to the nurses'?" He asks, already had taken a step down the way to the nurses office. You sigh a "Yeah," and follow behind him as he leads the way there.

The nurse is in, though it looked like she was about to leave for something. She lets out a small sigh as you stand in the doorway, motions you into the room and has you sit on a bed. She says "I'll be right back," and leaves the room.

Dave stands by the door, "Need me to stay and hold your hand, Egbert?"

You scoff and flip him the bird with your good hand. "No! I do not. Fuck off."

Dave shrugs and turns like he's gonna leave, instead spinning right around and sitting on a stool next to the bed, "I'll fuck off right to here, if you don't mind, Princess."

You breathe a "Oh my god," and you'd punch him too, if he wasn't sitting on your right side with the arm you can't use. You'll get him later, probably.

It's quiet for a few seconds, until Dave goes, "So. How's that whole demon dream thing going?"

You scrunch up your nose and you turn your head to him, not expecting a question like that from him. "Well? I'm not having them anymore, thankfully. Why do you ask?"

Dave turns his head away, pursing his lips and nodding. You're about to ask him why he's being weirdly quiet, then he goes, "What did this thing look like anyway?" You watch him for a few seconds quietly, how he still isn't facing you, with his arms on his knees, leaned forward, and pressing the fingers of his hands against each other.

"Well, he-" You start, before stopping yourself. Oh yeah, no one knows there's a demon living in your house. "-It, was. A black wispy shadow figure thing? I could never really make a shape out of it. It had long claws and big fangs and red eyes." You finish, and wait a moment before asking again, "Why do you ask?"

Dave jumps up out of his chair, "No reason. Just curious about my best bros sick ass dreams is all. I never really dream so I wouldn't even know what a nightmare is like. It'd probably be really cool, actually. Like, can you talk to the thing? Are you a lucid dreamer? Apparently Jade gets lucid dreams sometimes." Dave turns to you then, "What if you could challenge it to a strife? Or like, in my case, a sweet ass rap battle. How sick would it be for a demon to rap? If you ever get the chance you should challenge it to a rap battle."

You want to hit both yourself and Dave over the head. You can't believe you started worrying about him at all! He was just being weird again. Instead of inflicting further injury to yourself or Dave, you laugh. A burst of laughter that doesn't last long but makes Dave smile all the same.

"Alright man, I got classes to get to, people to show up, same old shtick. Don't get yourself killed today, klutz." He slaps your good shoulder before turning for the door and leaving you to yourself in the nurses.

 

School lets out and you start walking your way home, with a short detour to the dollar store to buy Karkat his marshmallows. You roll your eyes at the thought while picking up a bag in the candy aisle, honestly he would do just about anything for marshmallows. But he's a greedy little ass too, so its never enough to just have a few.

You decide to buy some chocolate and a soda -- grape flavor -- too, before heading to the front to pay. Your right arm is pretty useless as it is, but it works for holding a bag of marshmallows on top of it. You wait in line behind a middle aged woman whos flicking through her phone while the guy behind the counter rings up her items. 

You eye some of the items beside the cash register, more out of nothing else to look at than an actual curiosity. You idly wait, the customer in front of you finally going to pay for her things while the boy bags them, when someone knocks into your side hard, making you drop all three items. You turn to tell the person running into you to watch where they're going, damn, when you notice no one is there. No trace of a person ever being there.

The lady and the boy in front of you stare at you, confusion and slight concern on their faces. You shyly smile, suddenly extremely self conscious, and bend to pick up your things. Not easy with one hand, but manageable. You pay for you things quickly, attempting to have absolutely no eye contact with the cashier, and thankfully he leaves you be. You're out the door the second you're able.

 

You're left wondering what the heck happened back there, wondering if you imagined it and just tripped over your own feet or what. Maybe it was just a really good prankster? A little kid? You never saw anyone, but the people in front of you didn't mention anyone either. Really who knows what happened. 

Its not like strange things don't happen around you all the time anyway; you're practically bunking with a demon for some strange reason! Buying him treats, watching movies together, bantering back and forth about whatever. Its kind of like having a pet and a friend in one living with you, a cute friend who says mean things but never really means them (probably). But its fun! so you don't usually question the unusualness of it. 

You're unlocking your door when the full impact of your thoughts hit you, like someone threw a brick at your head, or a ball to your nose. You seriously just thought about Karkat being cute.

Okay! Well! Its not like its impossible to think that. Karkat is a lot like, well, a cat. He's like a big grumpy cat that can talk and demand things. Yes, that’s absolutely why you thought he was cute. Maybe? Whatever, he's fun to pal around with and that’s all you know!

You close the door determinedly, kick off your shoes, and call for Karkat. Your dad's car wasn't out front, you're ninety-five percent sure he isn't in the house so its safe to talk to Karkat freely.

"Karkat! Kaaarrrrkaaaaat! I got marshmallows!"

A crash comes from the direction of your room, then silence for a few seconds. The door to your bedroom opens and Karkat peeks out over the railing. You shake the plastic bag in your good hand, a loud crinkling emitting, and a smile playing across your face. Karkat casually walks down the stairs, (more like weird cat crawling down...) before stopping dead in his tracks a few feet away from you.

"What the fuck?" He says, confused.

You frown in confusion and set the bag down, looking around your person. "What? Is there a weird bug on me or something?"

"Or something. What the fuck." Karkat steps closer to you, cautiously sniffing at you.

You’re basically in a state of ???? at Karkat’s behavior, waiting for him to stop doing whatever weird thing he’s doing and explain whats wrong. He eventually stops in front of you, a half grimace half angry expression on his face.

“Sooo are you gonna explain why you’re being weird?” You ask, placing a hand on your hip and quirking your lips.

Karkat scrunches up his nose before going, “You have another demons’ scent on you. Namely, one batshit insane pureblood that antagonizes me every fucking chance they get.”

Your eyes go wide and your jaw almost goes slack; another demon? When? Why, how, where--

The dollar store. Of course; thats when they bumped into you.

“Oh god, Karkat, am I gonna have to deal with two of you now? I don’t think I have another closet for another one to sleep in! Or enough money to buy you both junk food every other day!” Your whole body sags, and you flop down on the floor right there.

“Calm your shit, dumbfuck. First of all, I am not letting that psycho anywhere near you or me. But they’ve already caught my scent on you, I’m fucking sure. No wonder they’d bump into you on purpose.” Karkat paces in front of you, on front and back paws.

“Second, we wouldn’t even be letting them stay here. I wanna get out of here, remember! We’d be using them to get me home. Not that I particularly have a home, but back there is better than living here with you.” Karkat stops in front you then, a narrowed eyed stare.

Oh yeah, you forgot about all that weird demon stuff. “So, does that mean we should go look for them? So we can uh, send you home or whatever?” 

“No, god no. Absolutely not. Christ. I don’t want anything to do with them.” Karkat goes, a growly undertone to his words.

You make a puzzled face back at him, “But I thought you wanted to go back to the demon world or whatever? Why shouldn’t we go look for them?”

“Because Terezi is insane! Did you not hear me say that before, or were you too busy thinking about your stupid candy or what the fuck ever?” You flinch back from his harsh tone just a bit, then pout at him.

“Besides, Terezi wouldn’t be willing to help me get back, they’d want to just bug the everloving fuck out of me for as long as I’m stuck in this shithole.”

You tilt your head a bit, “So what do we do then?”

“We stay the fuck away from them, obviously.” He goes, coming closer and peering into the bag you dropped.

“Gog, of course the first other demon we run into has to be them of all entities. I’m not even sure why I’m fucking surprised.” He mutters.  
You shrug and pat Karkat on the shoulder without thinking. “Well if you say so, Karkat! I hope we don’t run into them again. Hey, why don’t we go watch a movie before I start homework?”

Karkat stiffened just a bit from the contact, then pursed his lips and blinked slowly before grabbing the hand that had been on his shoulder. “Yeah, sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT THE HELL, AN UPDATE TO THIS OLD THING FINALLY?? THANK THE GOGS!
> 
> if the writing seems weird its because about half of this chapter was written like, MONTHS ago before i stopped again because of personal reasons, and then i picked it back up again recently so. probably not consistent writing style.
> 
> finally.... karkat and john getting closer.... my crops were dying....
> 
> if y'all want some occasional updates on how writing is going or wanna ask questions, my tumblr: http://heart-squared.tumblr.com/ this fics tag is #WGBITNau on tumblr.


	6. The Drabble Chapter

John layed on his stomach, chewing on the eraser of his pencil with a book and notepad open infront of him. In the floor sat Karkat, watching something on Johns laptop.

“Karkat. Karkat. Kaarrrrrrkaaaaaat. how do you spell that?” John wonders from his place on the bed, staring at the fluffy back of Karkats head.

Karkat turns to look at John over his shoulder, “What? how the fuck I would know? its not like I know anything about your primitive human language.” he quips.

“Besides,” He goes on, “Karkat isn’t even my real name.” before he turns back to the laptops screen.

“What!” John barks as he shoots himself up on his hands. “Whats your real name, then?”

Karkat scoffs, “Like I would tell you, buttmunch! Its taboo to give out your real name, especially to a human.” He goes, spitting out the word human like its dirty.

“Whys that?” John asks, resting his head on his now folded hands on the bed.

Karkat turns to him, crossing his arms, “A demons real name is a sacred thing. You dont just go telling to every dumbass you come across. Everyone uses codenames instead.”

“Oooh!” goes John, “Codenames! its like you’re a spy on a secret mission, like james bond!”

“I dont have any idea what any of that means.” Karkat deadpans.

“Do you think I have a codename?” John asks.

“Yeah, ‘nuts for brains’ seems pretty fitting to me.” Karkat retorts.

John laughs, “Eww! That’d be weird.”

Karkat sinks lower into himself, “Lucifer, you are so easily entertained, arent you? I could call you 'Satans left asscheek’ and you would still be amused.”

John smiles brightly, “Heh heh! Why am I only half of satans ass though? why cant I be the whole ass? who makes up the other half?”

Karkat throws his hands up, “Fine! be the whole fiery hairy ass if you so please! whatever makes this conversation end sooner.” he says a bit too loudly before turning back to the forgotten laptop.

Its quiet for all of thirty seconds before John says “I think you would make a pretty good right hairy butt cheek.” contemplatively.

Karkat groans loudly before dropping his head in his hands while John laughs behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think its safe to say after so long, I am most likely dropping this project. I started it on a whim, no prior planning or structure. I just wanted to get back into writing after years of not writing and wanted something with a few more chapters and more shippy, but after this much time has passed, I'm not even sure I care about johnkat as much as I once did.
> 
> It was nice while it lasted! but I dont want to keep anyone waiting on more material (if anyone else even still cares about this.)
> 
> I did have this little bit I wrote a couple weeks ago, and it might be the last. thanks for reading!


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